SAMWU welcomes high court ruling compelling !Kheis Municipality to pay workers’ salaries

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) has welcomed a judgment handed down last Friday in the Northern Cape Division of the High Court in Kimberley by Acting Judge Olivier.

The ruling follows an urgent application by SAMWU against the !Kheis Local Municipality, which has failed to pay its employees their salaries since February 2025—a failure the union has described as both shocking and indefensible.

In his ruling, Acting Judge Olivier ordered the municipality to “immediately make payment of the salaries of the members of the applicant for the months of February 2025 and March 2025 and to continue making payment of the salaries of the members of the applicant as it falls due.”

“This judgment marks a significant and hard-won victory for our municipal workers, who have endured immense financial strain and psychological trauma, and have been stripped of their dignity due to municipalities’ persistent and unacceptable failure to