The disgruntled class previously told OFM News that in December 2021, the municipality stopped paying them their R2 500 monthly stipends and informed them abruptly that their contracts with the metro had come to an end. The disgruntled group is disputing their dismissal. The group has this morning presented a memorandum with a list of demands to the metro’s management and are awaiting an outcome on the matter.

The three trainees who spoke to OFM News in early February 2022 on condition of anonymity, said when they transferred from basic traffic training to the law enforcement skills programme (LESP) meant for metro police officials, they did not sign contracts to that effect. This raises the question - when the metro says their contracts had come to an end, which contracts were they referring to, seeing as the only contract these three confirm signing was that for the basic traffic learnership in 2019?

Secondly, the group before them – the 2018 cohort – signed LESP, also known as metro police training contracts spanning over two years. And as a result are presently earning their stipends, despite the fact that they are sitting at home, watching the drama regarding the metro police department unfold.

The disparity in stipends

Whilst both the 2018 and 2019 classes were moved to the law enforcement skills programme (LESP) meant for the metro police route from the basic traffic training, they were not earning the same amount in terms of stipends.

The 2018 class’ stipend was R6 500 whilst the 2019 class received R2 500 upon this bridge from one discipline to the other. They allege that when they asked why they were earning less in September 2021, they were told “Mangaung doesn’t have a budget”.

Technicalities aside, it appears this 2019 group is a casualty of the Mangaung metro police woes.

Victims of a political battle

The termination of the aforementioned trainees’ employment happened on the back of National Treasury ordering that the Mangaung metro police be abandoned – a decision which was reversed in late December 2021 by the Bloemfontein High Court.

Also read: Mangaung #MetroPolice debacle continues

The anonymous group is of the view that they and their fellow 97 classmates are just the victims of a political battle in the metro, because the metro police department has, in fact, been greenlit, legally speaking.

“A lot of us are depressed, even in our conversations with another. We had a very cold December not getting paid. There are people who needed to pay rent, there are people with families who needed to ensure that their children had Christmas clothes and that their parents had food on the table. But we didn’t have that, because Mangaung kept us in the cold,” says the trainee.

Another trainee says they invested their time and money purchasing uniforms and learning material, only to be left in limbo.

“I’d like them to stop using us as pawns on a chessboard, because this is just a political battle it has nothing to do with the legal system. The law has already said that this thing is legal and must continue,” says another trainee.

Also read: Treasury shoots down planned Mangaung Metro Police establishment

Meanwhile, the disgruntled political staff at the Mangaung Metro have for the second time in two days blockaded the entrances to the metro's headquarters due to the non-payment of their salaries.

The protest by more than 100 people follows after a meeting with the Head of the Department (HOD) of Cooperative Governance (Cogta), Mokete Duma, and acting City Manager (CM), Mzingisi Nkungwana, on Friday. Workers on Friday told OFM News they are yet to receive their salaries for February whilst those who got paid in January only received half of their salaries. The trainees are not blockading the building but have made their grievances known.

OFM News has sent questions to the metro regarding the memorandum with a list of demands to the metro’s management. This is a developing story.

OFM News