23 Jun 2014

Hukuntsi Sub-district Council drivers have since June16 downed tools citing what they referred to as unfair treatment from their supervisors and poor working conditions.

According to the drivers' spokesperson, Mr Seleka Motsaatlhobo, there was poor communication between the council management and the driving personnel and their grievances were never paid attention to.

He said they had long complained of the long return trips they had to travel, looking at the vastness of the area and difficult terrains. He explained that their lives were always endangered by such trips.

The council management, he said, needed to take note of the sacrifices they made to help deliver services to the residents of Kgalagadi against all the odds.

He said the current stalemate between the two parties had been triggered by a recent correspondence from the council management, which prohibited the engagement of heavy duty drivers for lower scale tasks.

He said the move to prohibit heavy duty drivers to perform low scale duties would cripple the delivery of services in the district as there was an acute shortage of light duty drivers in the council while on one hand, heavy duties drivers exceeded the vehicle numbers.

“There is no balanced correlation between the number of driving personnel and vehicles in the ground as the majority of personnel are employed on heavy duty scale while there are few heavy duty vehicles and the same applies to light duty vehicles,” he said.

He stated that they had long requested for a platform to air their grievances to the management but to no avail hence the decision to down tools till further notice.

The senior assistant council secretary, Mr Joseph Kgabanyane, however, dismissed the drivers' concerns stating that the council management catered for staff welfare and management was also willing to give audience to employees.

The council, he said, had an open door policy but the drivers were reluctant to come forth with their grievances in an effort to assist on how best to resolve them.

He explained that the decision to prohibit engagement of heavy duty drivers to perform low scale duties was a re-aligning measure to align personnel with duties they had been employed for.

He said the motive of heavy duty drivers being engaged in light duty vehicles was contrary to the driver’s scheme of service as read with the drivers' job descriptions.

Mr Kgabanyane stated that the re-alignment did not completely restrict heavy duties drivers from light duty vehicles as the decision could  be reversed should need be.

“This simply means that we will permit heavy duty drivers to drive light vehicles if we have no alternative or for in instances where the number of light vehicles surpasses their recommended drivers,” he explained.


He, however, could not comment on the impact of the standoff on service delivery in the region as a thorough assessment was yet to be carried out. ENDS