The SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) says more than 30 municipalities in South Africa have indicated that they are unable to pay worker salaries, leaving employees to fend for themselves while medical aid, funeral policies and pension fund benefits fall into arrears.
According to Samwu, even workers at the Amahlathi Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape have been told by management that they will not be getting their June salaries and that they should only expect to be paid at the end of July.
The union said it held a meeting with new Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and her deputy Parks Tau a few days ago and were told government was not aware that workers were not getting paid.
Samwu says they view this as a deliberate and provoked attack by municipalities on workers who will respond appropriately by withdrawing their labour power to ensure that their families are fed and that their financial obligations are met.
The union demanded immediate payment of all salaries with interest and that municipalities compensate workers for any charges and penalties incurred as a result of the late payments.
Meanwhile, auditor-general Kimi Makwetu released his annual audit report on the country's municipalities which showed that the situation continued to deteriorate with only 18 of them achieving clean audits for 2017/18 financial year.
Makwetu revealed that irregular spending decreased from R29.7 billion to R25.2 billion, but added the latter figure was likely to climb.
- African News Agency (ANA);
