Johannesburg - “Our accounts are going into arrears. It’s making our lives a misery.”
So said a staffer at the Alexandra Health Centre as allegations emerged that the majority of the 150 employees haven’t been paid their salaries since June 25, when the centre was merged with the Gauteng Health Department. The facility used to run as an NGO.
The staffer asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.
“They (department) said they’d pay us by July 31, but when that date came, we waited and received nothing. They said they had issues with files of some staff being lost. Then they said they’d pay July’s salaries on August 15,” he said.
On Monday, the department’s spokesman, Steve Mabona, confirmed they had “challenges” with their payroll.
“… There were challenges with a systematic capturing of employees who were taken over from an NGO to the departmental payroll. However, the situation is resolved. Some employees were paid in July and all outstanding will be paid on August 31,” he explained.
Sources at the clinic said that because of the salary issues, some staffers were not coming to work, which created staffing shortages in some wards.
“The matron in the maternity ward was shouting in the corridor trying to find any other nurse who could work night shift because their nurses weren’t at work,” a source said.
“There’s already speculation that if we’re not paid at the end of August, people will be paid group by group each Monday. Imagine that.”
The department denied there was a staffing problem, saying the clinic was fully operational and that some of the employees who hadn’t reported for duty “had reported themselves as sick”.
Said Mabona: “We regret this occurred and apologise to all the affected employees.”
The Star