A FORMER employee of the Mogalakwena municipality in Limpopo has accused municipal officials of unfair dismissal

Malesela Manamela claims he was fired after he was accused of being a trouble-maker.

Manamela, 38, who had been working as a pump operator at the municipality's Nkidikitlana satellite office since 2003, said he was fired without going through a disciplinary hearing.

Manamela claims that his only "sin" was to raise concerns about the way their contracts had been handled, saying he was supposed to renew his contract monthly for the whole period he was working there.

"I did not understand why I had to work for such a long time without being given a permanent job despite a recommendation that we be offered the jobs," he said yesterday.

He said he had also won a bargaining council order for the municipality to employ him full-time but that the municipality had defied the order.

"I was fired through a telephone call and there was no disciplinary hearing. I view this as a personal vendetta against me," he added.

Municipal spokesman Malesela Selokela yesterday dismissed Manamela's claims and said pump operators were hired through recommendations by the communities concerned.

"So, when the community is not happy about a person's work they recommend that the person be replaced. There are no contracts between the municipality and pump operators." - frankm@sowetan.co.za