North West municipality fails to pay May salaries for general workers

Over 100 general workers at Tswaing Local Municipality have not been paid their May wages. Photo: Tswaing municipality website

• General workers at the Tswaing Local Municipality have not been paid their May wages.
• The municipality processed salaries on 29 May for employees occupying post levels six to 14, but not general workers such as cleaners and waste collectors.
• The municipality has promised to process salaries for May and June at the latest by 15 July.

Over 100 workers in the embattled Tswaing Local Municipality in the North West Province have not been paid their May wages. In a notice to employees on 2 June, acting municipal manager Borman Phutiyagae said the municipality had processed salaries on 29 May for employees occupying post levels six to 14. Those still awaiting payment include general workers in levels one to five, as well as municipal and senior managers and the municipality’s 28 councillors.

This is not the first time the severely cash strapped municipality failed to pay staff. In February, council workers were paid late and during this period, essential municipal services effectively came to a standstill because the municipality had no funds available to purchase diesel for pumping water, delivering sanitation services and removing refuse.

Tswaing is requesting an additional grace period until 12 June. If it cannot find the funds, Phutiyagae promised that the municipality “will process the outstanding salaries for May and June by 15 July”.

“We assessed our cash flow status again and unfortunately we still do not have enough funds to process the salaries for the outstanding categories,” he said.

He said that the municipality is also pursuing all outstanding revenue.

But members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) are sceptical. “The municipality is still expecting these employees to report for duty … What are they going to eat during their lunch breaks? How are they going to cover their children’s schooling, transport and all their financial obligations?” asked SAMWU national spokesperson Papikie Mohale.

He warned that paying higher-earning employees before lower-paid workers would lower morale and create resentment.

“The people that are actually in the forefront of service delivery are your low-paid employees. These are the workers responsible for waste collection, sewerage and all those things,” he said.

Mohale said the municipality should have approached the provincial and national governments for help when it became clear salaries would not be paid. This highlights broader problems with municipal finances, he said.

The cash crunch comes amid a legal battle between the municipality and the provincial government. Recently, the North West High Court in Mahikeng dismissed an urgent application by Tswaing for an interdict to block the implementation of a report that flagged widespread maladministration.

The report, ordered by North West cooperative governance MEC Gaoage Molapisi following an instruction from cooperative governance minister Velekosini Hlabisi, warned that the municipality’s administration could collapse if multiple issues were not addressed.

It flagged that the municipality prioritised salary increases and promotions over community needs, resulting in millions in losses, further criticising spending an “absolutely unreasonable” R47.6-million on litigation over five years.

Molapisi subsequently directed the council to begin revoking the appointments of three senior officials, including the acting municipal manager, but the council rejected the report and launched a court application to block its implementation and challenge its findings. While the bid for the urgent interdict was dismissed, the court is still set to adjudicate whether the investigation had been procedurally fair towards those implicated.

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