The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), an alliance of the African National Congress (ANC), has expressed worry that more municipalities in the country intend to follow in the footsteps of Tshwane Metro (Pretoria) and freeze salary increments for staff.
The labour federation says this is going to cripple workers who are already struggling to make ends meet.
The claim was made by the federation on Thursday during a press conference held in Johannesburg after a meeting of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) held on August 28 and 29, 2023.
The federation said the state of the working class in the country is worrying, and things would be made worse by growing proposals to freeze wages.
"The CEC received reports on worrying developments in the labour market and a rising tendency of employers to undermine collective bargaining, abandon signed wage agreements, and impose wage freezes on workers who are already drowning in debt and not able to provide for their families.
"We are appalled by the state of local government where 36 municipalities routinely fail to pay their staff and some even defrauding statutory deductions, e.g. pension and medical funds," the labour federation said.
It added that it was worried that the Tshwane situation, where the metro refused to effect wage hikes on the basis that it may cripple it, sparking a strike by workers, has set a precedent for others.
"Tshwane Municipality is refusing to honour two years’ wage agreements and has purged more than 100 staff who dared to express their grievances.
"Newcastle and Enoch Mgijima Municipalities have now indicated they intend to follow suit," it said.
Newcastle Local Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal, which is run by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), has been having a cash crunch since 2012, when it was run by the ANC.
Its financial troubles stem from rampant corruption.
In September last year, IOL reported that the municipality was forced by the national treasury to revise its "unrealistic budget."
The municipality was also sharply criticised for rushing the process to reinstate the previously fired 223 workers without having money to back-pay them.
There have been reports that the municipality’s bank account is running low and may struggle to pay service providers and employees.
Enoch Mgijima has been struggling to pay workers' salaries and service providers fees for almost three years now.
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