The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in KwaZulu-Natal has slammed the Impendle municipality over the continued non-payment and late payment of salaries to its workers.
Cosatu said it had joined its affiliate, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union, in expressing deep anger and outrage at the continued and unacceptable conduct of the municipality in leaving workers uncertain each month about when they would be paid.
Cosatu said workers were not paid on January 23, but got vague assurances from management.
“This comes after workers were paid extremely late in December, a period when they desperately needed their salaries to meet debts, family responsibilities and festive season expenses,” Cosatu said.
The delayed payments have had devastating consequences for workers and their families, forcing employees into unplanned debt, penalties and blacklisting, while also disrupting third-party payments such as medical aid, pension funds and other statutory deductions.
“These disruptions have serious short-term and long-term consequences for workers’ social and economic security,” Cosatu said.
It warned that the ongoing salary crisis pointed to deeper governance failures at the municipality, including poor leadership, financial mismanagement and a lack of accountability.
“The developments are clear warning signs of a municipality on the brink of collapse,” Cosatu said.
Cogta must explain what concrete interventions have been implemented to prevent this crisis from repeating and why those measures have clearly failed
— Cosatu
Cosatu called for immediate intervention by senior authorities.
“We demand the immediate and full payment of all outstanding salaries, including all money owed to third parties, without further delay.”
The federation further called for consequence management against officials responsible for the crisis, stressing that workers should not be punished for management and political failures.
“We further demand for accountability from the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) as this crisis has been going on since early last year.
“Cogta must explain what concrete interventions have been implemented to prevent this crisis from repeating and why those measures have clearly failed.”
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