Cape Town - Unhappiness among staff at the Western Cape Parliament is growing over concerns that their performance bonuses could be hanging in the balance, as the process was unexpectedly placed on hold.
Unlike at national Parliament where workers have resorted to protest action, staffers across different salary bands at the provincial parliament were not planning to down tools but agreed that the veil of secrecy surrounding their bonus payouts should be lifted.
At the heart of the trouble are claims that only a small group of staffers will be receiving performance bonuses; that only one African staffer was getting a bonus; and that the majority of those receiving bonuses were in senior management positions.
In the corridors of the provincial parliament the rumour mill has been working overtime with staffers claiming only 18 out of the 100 staff members will be receiving performance bonuses.
“If this is the case, management is indirectly telling us that the majority of staff who work here, are either underperforming or not performing at all. If this is the case they should explain how the parliament received a clean audit if people are not doing their work,” an angry official said.
Insisting on anonymity, several parliamentary staffers, fearing possible victimisation, said the process was stopped after Speaker Sharna Fernandez intervened when complaints were received.
“Bonuses were set to be paid out last week but the process was unexpectedly put on hold following complaints. If only a small group of people are getting performance awards then the inference can be drawn that this parliament has not been performing even if it received a clean audit,” another senior worker added.
The ANC’s chief whip in the provincial legislature, Pierre Uys, was the first to highlight the issue when he questioned the Speaker and senior management of the provincial parliament at a meeting of the parliamentary oversight standing committee last week. Uys wanted an update on how much the provincial parliament had budgeted for bonuses, and an overview of the progress made so far.
In response, the committee was told the budget allocated for performance awards for this financial year was R850 000, and that they were currently still undergoing the process.
On the performance bonuses, the accounting officer and Secretary to Parliament Hamida Fakira said the unhappiness at national Parliament was about the way performance bonuses are being calculated.
“On our side we are actually in the process of coming up with performance bonuses. We are actually going through the process currently,” she said.
Parliamentary management said they alternate each year – one year looking at notch increases and one year at bonuses.
“We do, however, calculate our bonuses on total annual packages any case. So that is what the fight is about next door (national parliament),” the committee was told.
Wanting clarity about the difference between national and provincial parliament regarding bonuses, Uys asked when the matter would be finalised.
But no clear answers were forthcoming about the timeframe, with the ANC later accusing the provincial parliament of using stalling tactics to avoid services being disrupted by possible strike action.
“The Speaker is clearly stalling for time, hoping to finalise the matter after the last sitting of the house when parliament’s work will not be disrupted. They have money for other things but not the wellness of the staff. These bonuses had been signed off already and suddenly everything was halted due to mounting concerns.”
By the time the Cape Argus went to press, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union in the Western Cape, who represents the parliamentary staff, failed to respond to numerous media enquiries.
Cape Argus