The Department of Home Affairs says nearly all of its offices were not operating on Saturday due to insufficient staff numbers.
The Department said that 90% of its offices were not operating on Saturday because employees did not turn up to “work as part of the settlement agreement with the Unions.”
Department spokesperson, David Hlabane, said the settlement agreement of 15 June gave employees the option to work voluntary on a Saturday in exchange for time-off.
"We had entered into a settlement with the unions in terms of Saturday work. In terms of the settlement of 15 June we had agreed that Saturday work would no longer be compulsory, therefore the officials would work Saturday's on a voluntary basis, an incentive being that they would take a day-off during the week," he said.
"It is not a matter of absenteeism on the part of the officials, but is informed by the settlement in terms of how we are going to deal with Saturdays going forward," he added.
Hlabane agreed that this could pose a problem for the Department during peak times.
He said the dispute with the union had revolved around the introduction of Saturday work in 2015 on a compulsory basis without remuneration.
"Throughout that period up to 15 June the unions had demanded that Saturday's be paid as overtime. But, with the current financial situation the Department could not afford to do that and thus to solve the dispute and to avert the strike that was scheduled for 19 June we then had to come to this settlement," he said.
He said the Department was “disappointed by these developments as they are not in line with the spirit of the agreement and the resolutions of discussions that took place up to Friday,”
“In this regard, the Department is appealing to the union leadership to prioritise resolving this matter urgently as agreed with the unions during negotiations,” said Hlabane.
“The Public Service Commission, the unions and the Department believe quality service delivery to our people is of utmost importance in line with our values,” he said.
