The effect of garnishee orders on the personnel of the Department of Health, Rustenburg

Abstract

The goal of the study was to explore the effect of garnishee orders on the personnel of the Department of Health, Rustenburg. The researcher utilised a qualitative research approach to gain deeper understanding of the effects of garnishee orders on the employees. The study used a non-probability sampling technique with volunteer sampling to select the sample of ten participants. Semi-structured interviews conducted with the use of an interview schedule in conjunction with a recording device were used to gather data. A qualitative analysis was used to grasp the richness of themes derived from the narrative of participants. In analysing data the researcher was guided by the analytical spiral of Creswell (1968) as stipulated by De Vos (2005:334) which involves planning and recording of data, data collection and preliminary analyses, managing and organising data, reading and writing memos, generating categories, themes and patterns, coding the data, testing the emergent understanding, searching for alternative explanations and representing and visualising. The empirical findings reveal that employees and management were confronted by the phenomenon of garnishee orders on a daily basis. The majority of participants view external factors to be the cause of their financial difficulties. The participants further revealed that they feel trapped by over-indebtedness resulting in psycho-social and occupational maladjustments. Ironically, some of the participants reported positive effects of garnishee orders. Furthermore, the study revealed that the participants felt that they would benefit from regular guidance and training with regard to personal financial management.