The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (IMATU) have collectively expressed to parliament’s Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Water and Sanitation, that unions are viewed as enemies to municipal management when they are in fact stakeholders. The outsourcing of services and workers has been identified as a prevailing issue at the municipality.

In early March 2022, political staff at the Mangaung Metro blockaded the main entrance to the municipal precinct in Bloemfontein over unpaid salaries. They alleged at the time that the newly-appointed acting municipal manager, Mzingisi Nkungwana, refused to authorise the payment of their salaries. The number of these political staff members amounted to 120 people. The employees were only paid after the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) salvaged the situation following said shutdown of administrative services at the metro's headquarters. 

There is also the matter of the metro’s 2019 traffic learnership cohort, turned metro police trainees, who say they are in a state of limbo after the municipality abruptly stopped paying this class their R2500 monthly stipends and informed them that their contracts with the metro had come to an end.

The other allegations by the trainees include contractual discrepancies between themselves and the 2018 cohort. Whilst both the 2018 and 2019 classes were moved to the Law Enforcement Skills Programme (LESP), meant for metro police officials, they were not earning the same amount in terms of stipends. The 2018 class’ stipend was increased to R6500, whilst the 2019 class continued to receive R2500 upon this bridge from one discipline to the other. They allege that when they asked why they were earning less in September 2021, they were told “Mangaung doesn’t have a budget”. The 2018 class also has a longer contract.

OFM News/Olebogeng Motse and Cathy Dlodlo