Ipelegeng cooks to be paid despite contract cancellation
Lebogang Mosikare | Thursday April 16, 2020 17:22
According to some of the temporary cooks who spoke to MmegiOnline on condition of anonymity for of fear of being victimised in future, the cancellation of their contracts has affected them negatively. They claim that they incurred some costs, which they had planned to repay within three months.
“We had borrowed funds from some people with the believe that we will repay them within three months before our contracts expire. But right now, it will be difficult for us to repay them after our contracts were abruptly cancelled because of coronavirus. Anyway, we can’t cry for spilt milk forever since our lives should continue pre and post the coronavirus,” said one of the temporary cooks.
Meanwhile City Clerk Lopang Pule confirmed that the contracts of all the temporary cooks have been cancelled as a precautionary measure to control the spread of the Coronavirus in the city and the country at large.
Pule however, said that the ex-cooks will be paid all their dues before the end of this week despite the fact that they did not prepare meals for the rest of the month as per their contracts.
“The contracts of the workers stipulated that they were supposed to be paid as per the number of people they were feeding in different wards within the city. Thereafter, the FCC will assess them to find out if they qualify to be assisted under the government relief fund that was set up to help people who cannot afford to feed themselves because of various factors,” said Pule.
Pule added: “The contracts of the cooks were terminated due to force majeure-a provision commonly found in contracts that frees both parties from obligation if an extraordinary event (in this case coronavirus) prevent one or both parties from performing. The Coronavirus is a natural disaster that government did not anticipate. The government will therefore, not pay those cooks any funds at the end of April. You should also be cognisant of the fact the cooks will be paid their dues for March since our months usually start in the middle of the month that is why we will be paying them before the end of this week”.