Gender employees’ cash-less New Year

EMPLOYEES of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare had to operate on tight budgets this festive season because of the late payment of their salaries.

According to a press release issued by Calle Schlettwein, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, the error was caused by a technical error at First National Bank (FNB), which has a contract with the ministry for the electronic payment of civil servants’ salaries.
Salaries were supposed to be paid on Wednesday, December 31, and when the non-payment problem came to the attention of the Ministry of Finance that same day, the bank assured it that the salary files had been rectified and that the problem would be solved by midnight.
However, by Friday, salaries were still not available.
The Ministry of Gender Equality employs over 330 people.
Employees finally received their salaries yesterday afternoon, but not without feeling the effects of entering the New Year without money.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one employee lamented: ‘I did feel the effect, and I still am. If a person doesn’t have money, what can you do? The next day was New Year’s day, so of course, we were all concerned about not receiving our salaries.’
She also expressed concern about the bank charges that would accrue due to the late payment, saying: ‘One has debit orders that need to be processed, and so on, so I’m sure those charges will add up.’
Desery van Wyk, Manager for Cellphone Banking at FNB, yesterday acknowledged that the salary delay was caused by a ‘human error’ on the part of FNB, adding that the problem has now been corrected and all employees have received their salaries.
Van Wyk stated that all FNB charges resulting from the late payment of salaries would be refunded to affected employees. She also confirmed that Gender Equality was the only ministry affected by the error.
The Ministry of Finance apologised to employees of the affected Ministry, stating that FNB has given its assurance that measures will be taken to prevent similar errors from taking place in the future.