THE South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) in the Northern Cape has lambasted the Renosterberg Local Municipalities on their failure to pay salaries to municipal workers in the region.
In a statement issued on Thursday, SAMWU said the Renosterberg Local Municipality has not even bothered to give workers an indication of when their salaries would be paid.
The municipal workers union said it is now calling on the Renosterberg Local Municipality to immediately pay workers their salaries in full and with interests.
“The failure by the municipality has resulted in great dissatisfaction and low morale amongst workers which would obviously affect the delivery of services to residents of the municipality,” said provincial secretary Lawrence Fennie.
“SAMWU does not buy the reasons advanced by the municipality that they are unable to pay workers their salaries as a result of the failure by both Provincial and National Governments to pay grants to the institution.”
Fennie said the fact that the municipality relies on grants such as equitable share for the payment of salaries is indicative of the financial systems controls failures and incompetencies at the institution.
“As a union we are convinced that the failure to pay salaries is directly linked to the poor financial management and the failure by the institution to implement credit and debt control policies,” said Fennie.
“According to the auditor general’s report on municipal finances, most of the country’s municipalities, including the Renosterberg municipalities have failed to ensure that there are proper revenue collection mechanisms in place to ensure sound municipal financial liquidity.”
He said the latest developments in this municipality is indicative of the greater need for the National Treasury and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to review funding model of municipalities, a demand which has always been championed by SAMWU in the interest of service delivery and labour stability.
“What agitates workers the most is that there was no notification whatsoever from the municipality that salaries would be paid late, workers were left in the wilderness when on the 25th they did not receive bank notifications informing them that their salaries were paid as per their contractual agreement with the employer,” said Fennie.
- Inside Metros