SITA: Are SASSA’s November payments affected by the strike?
Government departments are at high risk of disruption due to a strike at SITA. Have you experienced any department being offline this week?
Thousands of employees from the government IT firm, State Information and Technology Agency (SITA), have refused to return to their posts until their demands have been met.
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The employees represented by the Public Servants Association (PSA) have embarked on an indefinite strike demanding a 7,5 % increase. However SITA is only offering 5% increase back dated to April 2023.
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SITA EMPLOYEE DEMANDS
The association has warned that the strike could have an effect on service delivery to key department including SASSA, Home Affairs and Border Management
“The PSA is conscious of the implications of the total shutdown, which could adversely affect network connectivity, operations in most government sectors, and service delivery”
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Speaking to TechCentral, PSA chief negotiator Zamani Dladla says should any of the systems go down, be offline or have any issue, it is only SITA employees who will be able to restore them.
A month ago, thousands of old age SASSA beneficiaries were left helpless and unable to access their funds due to a technical glitch as Postbank was migrating to a new system.
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CALLING ON MINISTER TO INTERVENE
The union has called on Minister Mondli Gungubele to intervene and instruct the SITA board of directors to improve the salary offer to 7.5%, however, the minister has come out to say it is out of his jurisdiction as it is a labour dispute.
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“The Department acknowledges the rights of employees to embark on such action. Although the Department has noted calls for the Minister to intervene, it is important to note that this is a labour matter between the PSA representing the employees and SITA as employer, where the Department cannot interfere”, says Gungubele.
The Minister meanwhile called on all parties to find an amicable solution before service delivery is negatively affected.
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