A STRIKE action by Matjhabeng Local Municipality workers over unpaid wages threatened to degenerate into violence last Thursday as the protestors started burning tyres and garbage outside the municipal head office.
Employees at the municipality – which oversees the towns of Welkom, Virginia, Odendaalsrus and Allanridge – were expecting to receive their salaries on Wednesday.
However, Matjhabeng has failed to pay them after the courts froze the municipality’s accounts.
This forced its workers to picket outside the municipal building in Welkom demanding answers from management.
The employees said they had not been informed prior to payday that they would not be receiving their salaries on time.
Matjhabeng’s bank account is part of the assets that were attached following a legal battle with 15 service providers who had dragged the municipality to the High Court in Johannesburg demanding over R750 million.
The municipality has lodged an urgent appeal against the judgment.
South African Municipal Workers Union shop steward Dan Mana says they will continue to demonstrate until they get paid.
“The situation is becoming worse because we are not getting responses from the municipal manager about when exactly the workers will get paid,” he said.
“There are many challenges in this municipality yet they continue to say it is stable. There is no stability here.”
Matjhabeng mayor Thanduxolo Khalipa told the media during a press conference on Wednesday that the non-payment of salaries was a result of the court battles.
“This delay is not because there is no money,” Khalipa said.
“The municipality has money but the account has been frozen and the municipal manager is working on this to ensure that we all get paid, because even I was not paid.” – Staff Reporter