50 Covid-19 workers face two months without pay & PPEs – NW MEC for Health should intervene

20 July 2020

Note to Editors: Please find the attached soundbite in English and Setswana by Sello Seithlholo, MP, the DA Constituency Head in Greater Taung Local Municipality.

About 50 Covid-19 Screeners and Tracers in the Taung area have not received their salaries for the last two months. The workers have also struggled to obtain the required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

According to the Facility Manager at GateWay Clinic, the affected are dependent on the clinic for masks and other PPE. The workers rarely receive their PPE orders, and when they do the masks supplied are of substandard quality.

The screeners and tracers were employed in May on a contractual basis by the Red Cross Society as part of the North West Department of Health’s initiative to combat the spread of Covid-19.

According to the screeners and tracers, the contracts of employment with the Red Cross were signed on 20 April 2020. The contracts appear to be open-ended, as an end date was not stipulated, unfortunately, for so reason, the workers were not allowed to make copies of the signed contracts.

Under the terms of the signed contracts, a monthly stipend of R3,465.00 is to be paid to each worker, of which R35 was to be paid to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).

In the three months since the contracts were signed, only one month’s stipend was paid on 20 June 2020.

The Screeners and Tracers were placed within the eight health sub-districts in Greater Taung Local Municipality on 4 May 2020 without receiving training but were expected to begin work.

This is tantamount to unfair labour practises.

According to the Red Cross Provincial Administrative Assistant, Ms Boitumelo Radebe, the delays were due to the Red Cross’ SARS non-compliance. It is concerning that the Provincial Department of Health entered into an agreement with the Red Cross without the necessary compliance documents.

Following the complaints received from the workers, we asked the DA’s provincial spokesperson on Health, Gavin Edwards MPL, to request the MEC for Health, MadodaSambatha, to intervene and ensure that the workers are paid, but to date, the workers have not received the outstanding stipends and neither the required PPEs.

It is unacceptable that the MEC continues to ignore pleas and requests for his intervention in this matter, as the political head of health within the province he must ensure that service providers contracted by the department perform their obligated duties.

The DA urges the MEC for Health to intervene and ensure that workers are paid, that quality PPEs are made available and that the workers are properly trained to perform their screening and tracing duties.

It is unacceptable for workers to be made to work at the forefront of a pandemic without pay and the required PPE.

Issued by Sello Seitlholo,DA Constituency Head: Greater Taung Local Municipality, 20 July 2020