According to the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), the facilitator, the South African Local Bargaining Council (SALGBC), after three rounds of negotiations submitted a proposal for the parties which entailed a three-year agreement. That included a 7% across the board increase in the first year of the agreement, as well as a housing allowance and minimum wage set to also increase by 7%. Samwu General Secretary, Simon Mathe, says the South African Local Government Association (Salga), representing all municipalities, and a second union, Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu), agreed on the proposal. Samwu members, however, rejected the offer and presented a counter-offer today, which has been rejected by Salga.

In the wake of the deadlock, the employer reverted back to its initial offer. Samwu then presented an offer today which they felt accommodated all the parties and the employer rejected it. Mathe says they are being provoked and bullied into accepting the offer on the table, which is 6,6%.

He says while a strike is inevitable, they will consult with their members on the way forward.

This comes after Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu, in his report on municipalities for 2016/17, earlier this month revealed only 33 of 257 municipalities received clean audits - down from 48 clean audits in the previous financial year. The North West, Free State and Limpopo provinces did not record any clean audits for the 2016/17 financial year while irregular and fruitless expenditure increased by over R12 billion. The report also indicated there has been a regression in audit outcomes, with only 16 municipalities showing improvement while 45 others regressed. Samwu said municipal workers should not be blamed for the “man-made mess which municipalities find themselves in”.

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