The Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA) has condemned as “misplaced and ill-informed” the parliamentary portfolio committee on home affairs for calling for a total ban of cellphone use by the department’s front-desk staff.
Chairman of the committee, Hlomani Chauke, on Monday urged the department to consider an outright ban on cellphone usage by front line staff during working hours at all Home Affairs offices.
This was after the committee received numerous complaints from the public about delays at Home Affairs offices following a video that surfaced on social media showing two officials using cellphones while people waited in a queue at the department’s Tongaat offices in KwaZulu-Natal.
The department said it had launched a probe into the incident as the use of cellphones by officials while performing their duties is prohibited.
PSA general manager Ivan Fredericks said all stakeholders agreed in the bargaining chamber on the policy that regulated employees’ use of cellphones.
“These matters are negotiated at the relevant bargaining structures and the committee does not have any power to change these unless negotiated and agreed upon at sectoral level.”
Fredericks said the PSA, as the majority union at Home Affairs, called on the committee to refrain from making “reckless statements”.
“Such utterances expose public servants to undue public abuse and even attacks at the workplace when effective measures are already in place to address such conduct.”
ANA