Telkom accused of dismissing interns without pay

Xolani Ngozi (name changed) says Telkom dismissed him and 22 other learners who had received a Telkom learnership without explanation or pay.

Ngozi submitted his CV to the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA). He never thought that his dream of being employed would come true, but in about August last year Ngozi was called in and informed by the NYDA that he and 22 other candidates were successful in acquiring a learnership with Telkom. They were informed that they would receive training for three months and receive a stipend of R1,500. Thereafter they would work at one of Telkom’s call centres and receive a salary of R4,000 to R6,000.

The NYDA subcontracted an agency called Prodigy to oversee the training and hiring of the learners. The training, according to Ngozi, took place at a Telkom training centre in Milnerton where the learners were given their stipend. In December they were placed at Telkom call centres.

Ngozi was placed at a call centre in Bellville, in the New Service department. But before the end of December the learners received an email informing them that Prodigy was now handing them over to Telkom’s management and they would be getting paid by Telkom from January.

Instead of getting a salary at the end of January they were called by the human resources officer of Telkom and told that Telkom was still working on their contracts and that they would be receiving their salaries at the end of the month instead of the 25th when they usually got paid. They were further told that they should continue signing their time sheets because their salaries would be paid on an hourly rate.

On 31 January the interns were called into a boardroom and told that an email from Telkom’s head-office had arrived. The email was then read out loud to them. It said that all their contracts had been terminated with immediate effect without payment and that they should pack their belongings and leave. They were further told that any additional information or clarity they wanted would not be provided because only head office had the answers.

According to Ngozi, the group called their manager who tried to give a possible explanation of the situation by saying that it might be because of executive members who recently resigned that were involved in the deal and further speculated that it could possibly be that no proper hand-over was done to the current management. The group has since taken the matter up with the CCMA. A meeting with the CCMA has been scheduled for 15 April.

Telkom’s media officer, Pynee Chetty, said that the company is aware of the situation and that they have suspended the learnership programme pending investigation of the validity of the scheme.

The NYDA referred us to Prodigy. Prodigy had not provided comment by the time of publication.