City of Johannesburg's acting manager Mesuli Mlandu has issued a directive that the 130 employees whose contracts were converted into permanent employment will as from May no longer be on the city's payroll.

In a directive issued to the city's corporate shared services executive director on Wednesday, Mlandu said the municipality's officials were bound to implement the council resolution taken on February 25.

The city passed a resolution that sought to reserve the conversion of fixed-term contracts into permanent posts for 130 workers in a move seen by some as a political purge.

Mlandu's memo said the directive dealt specifically with contracts of staff in political offices and the office of the chief operations officer whose positions were initially advertised as fixed-term contracts and were filled as fixed-term positions and subsequently converted into permanent as a result of “irregular mayoral committee decisions” which were rescinded by council.

“The fixed-term contracts which were tainted by an irregular and improper action of conversion have been regularised by the said resolution and were restored to their original form and must be recognised as such in the city's HRM [human resources management] systems.

“The exit requirements which are implemented by the city as and when fixed-term contracts are to expire must be implemented in respect of the recently regularised contracts which expire by end of April.

“Normal recruitment processes will be undertaken and new fixed-term contact positions will be advertised... to be filled as from May 1,” Mlandu wrote.

In his memo, Mlandu said the affected employees failed to successfully challenge the council resolution, both internally and externally.

A week ago, the workers were issued with notices to motivate why the city should keep them on its payroll and how the municipality can regularise their appointments.

Most of the employees refused to sign letters, asking the city to communicate with unions instead.

A few days later, Metro police officers, some with firearms, visited the homes of the employees to hand them the letters and to sign acknowledgment of receipt.

This was viewed as an act of intimidation on the city's part. Mlandu denied this and said the city was obligated to show it had tried all means to get the notices to the employees.

Since the council resolution, several media briefings have been held, some in support of the workers, with numerous media statements also released, accusing the DA-led coalition of purging “young black professionals” to make space for “white from the Western Cape”.

In a statement, Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse said union threats of mobilised violence and intimidation would not reverse a legal council resolution.

“Instead of applying procedurally correct processes before the country’s courts or the council, Samwu (South African Municipal Workers Union) and the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) have instead chosen to launch baseless attacks on the council’s legal resolution and the multi-party government.

“Furthermore, threats of violence and intimidation have been made, announcing a plan of action that includes rendering the City ungovernable and preventing me from speaking in council.

“These threats will not deter the multi-party government, nor will they prevent us from building a city that has been broken down for so many years,” Phalatse said.