After not being paid salaries for three months, about 200 community healthcare workers from the Sedibeng district municipality, who had been camping outside the municipality building in Vereeniging for several days, have finally been paid.
The workers, who were appointed in July and are on a 12-month contract that runs until June next year, were paid for September, October and November, confirmed municipal manager Motsumi Mathe.
SowetanLIVE reports that the workers receive R3 500 monthly and are responsible for raising awareness on HIV/Aids through door-to-door campaigns in Sedibeng, and also help at local clinics with COVID-19 screening and assisting patients with collecting their medication.
Mathe said the delay was because the Gauteng Health Department had not released the grant meant to pay the workers. “We had a delay because of outstanding data in the reports we submitted to the Health Department. They picked up the inconsistencies – we take responsibility for not submitting all documents properly.”
The Sedibeng municipality, Health Department and provincial Treasury had agreed that the grant should be paid to the municipality before 20 December to ensure workers got their salaries within the coming months, added Mathe.
One of the workers, Dimakatso Motaung, said she was grateful for the payment but was worried about debts she has to settle. “I have debts that I still need to pay off. The best solution would be for the municipality to absorb us and hire us permanently. They are not alleviating poverty by hiring us on a contract. They only paid us because we have been sleeping outside this place for three days,” she said.
SowetanLIVE article – Protesting Sedibeng healthcare workers finally paid (Open access)
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