The ANC in Johannesburg has failed to secure a R10.3 billion wage deal for its affiliate union, the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), during an adjustment budget vote on Thursday.
The Citizen previously reported that Samwu and the municipality had agreed on the figure of R10.3 billion, based on accumulated debt resulting from a 1995 halt to salary progression, as well as the gap between the pay packages of senior officials and employees on the ground.
The union had described this salary agreement as a “crystallised sum of human suffering.”
This agreement, described as the Proposed Framework Agreement (PFA), was expected to be funded over a three-year period. But a number of questions have been raised on it, including whether the agreement will only benefit workers affiliated to Samwu.
Budget fails to get enough support
Speaker of council Margaret Arnolds said 58 councillors abstained from voting for the adjustment budget, while 67 councillors completely disagreed. Those who agreed to this were 117.
“The item is not carried,” she said.
According to Arnolds, the item needed 136 votes to pass.
Following the result, the ANC’s deputy mayor Loyiso Masuku stood up and said: “We would also like to inform Samwu that the EFF, the DA, and ActionSA rejected their salary wage implementation.”
She said this because the EFF, their coalition partner, together with ActionSA, had abstained from the vote, while the DA and Freedom Front Plus (FF+) rejected voting for the PFA and the budget.
Opposition parties responded furiously to Masuku’s statement, with some saying they “did not answer to Samwu”.
They even accused the ANC of trying to score “one loaf” for Samwu. This stems from an allegation that Samwu had demanded the R10.3 billion deal in order to campaign for the ANC in the lead-up to the local government elections.
Earlier this week, the DA served the City with legal papers demanding that the Proposed Framework Agreement (PFA) be removed from the budget due to several serious inconsistencies and the significant financial risk it poses to the City.
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DA says the deal was a political agreement
The DA, Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku, told The Citizen that the inclusion of the PFA would place an unsustainable financial burden on the municipality and ultimately bankrupt the City, diverting critical funds away from much-needed service delivery to residents.
“At a time when Johannesburg faces an infrastructure backlog estimated at hundreds of billions of rands, residents expect responsible governance and a budget that prioritises fixing roads, restoring reliable electricity, maintaining water infrastructure, and improving basic services.
“Instead, the current administration has attempted to push through a budget that prioritises escalating employee costs and political agreements over the needs of residents,” said Kayser-Echeozonjoku.
Kayser-Eccheozonjoku said her party will not support a budget that places employee costs above service delivery.
“Johannesburg’s finances must be protected so that every available rand goes towards addressing the City’s infrastructure crisis and improving the lives of residents,” she said.
Why did the EFF go against the ANC’s budget?
The upcoming election is a crucial election for the ANC, their representation in municipalities has been steadily declining since 2016.
For the first time, in a major vote, the EFF did not support the ANC on the adjustment budget.
While they complained about fiscal prudence and prioritising service delivery, there was also a background talk that the EFF did not support the budget because of an ongoing fight with the ANC in the City of Ekurhuleni. This fight is about positions in the mayoral committee. Â
“While workers must be treated fairly, you must also ensure that the city’s wage bill does not grow at the expense of service delivery and infrastructure investment. Johannesburg residents are not asking for a bigger administration, they are asking for working street lights, water, clean streets, functioning clinics and community safety,” EFF councillor Saseka Zitha said.
Zitha said different departments in the City had appealed for more funding, but that request had been declined, and they were told to work with their existing budgets.
Zitha further said the City must consider that it is already struggling to collect rates.
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