The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) has raised concerns over unpaid salaries due to the now-suspended withholding of municipalities' equitable shares.
The National Treasury’s recent withdrawal of withholding equitable shares from poor-performing municipalities came after extensive damage was already done, leaving many municipalities unable to pay workers’ salaries in July.
This was according to the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU), which represents over 150,000 municipality employees, in reaction to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s announcement that R7.1 billion withheld from 49 municipalities early this month was released to them on Friday.
The affected municipalities were targeted because of their poor service delivery and failure to control their finances.
After the Treasury had announced the temporary suspension of the fund, some of the affected municipalities expressed dissatisfaction, saying that this decision was despite them having made undertakings to work on their challenges.
