Tshwane: R44m legal bill was budgeted for and required

The South African Municipal Worker’s Union (Samwu) has slammed the Tshwane metro for allegedly spending a whopping R44-million on a single law firm for over three years.

The lambasting by the union comes as the money was spent while the metro failed to grant municipal workers salary hikes.

Samwu Regional Secretary Donald Monakhisi said the union stands outraged by the revelation that Tshwane shamefully squandered R44-million on legal matters.

“While workers have been denied their hard-earned 3.5% and 5.4% salary increases, the city has chosen to line the pockets of private lawyers at a staggering cost of R1-million per month. This is not just financial mismanagement, it is a moral failure, a betrayal of public trust, and a direct attack on the dignity of municipal workers.”

He said for years, Samwu has sounded the alarm against the city’s obsession with outsourcing, particularly its reliance on expensive lawyers to handle disciplinary cases and labour disputes.

“These are matters that should be resolved internally, with fairness and transparency, not handed over to profit-driven firms that prioritise billing over justice and labour relations.”

Monakhisi said the union has consistently demanded an end to this corrupt system, even petitioning the Judge President of the Labour Court to investigate the unethical conduct of this very law firm.

“Yet, the city has turned a deaf ear, choosing instead to burn public funds while withholding the meagre wage increases workers deserve.”

He added that it was “immoral and unconscionable” for Tshwane to shower lawyers with millions while workers struggle to feed their families.

“There must be a full, independent investigation into the city’s use of lawyers, including the criteria for their appointment, the legality of payments, and their role in delaying workers’ rights.”

He said the outsourcing of legal services, particularly in disciplinary cases, must come to an end.

The law firm in question was appointed in 2021 by the city council.

Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the R44-million represents legal costs paid to the law firm from the time they were appointed to the panel in 2021 to date.

“The cost includes labour litigation and general litigation that fell outside of labour litigation,” he explained.

Mashigo said the city applied to be exempted from paying salary increases for two financial years.

“This was because the city was in financial distress and not because of legal fees paid to law firms,” he said.

Mashigo further said the expenditure for legal fees was budgeted for.

No funds for service delivery or any other purposes were used to pay attorneys.

“The services rendered by law firm were necessitated by the challenges faced by the city,” he continued.

Mashigo said the law firm dealt with, among others, the following cases:

– Termination of the employment contract of the former CFO in the North Gauteng High Court;
– Salary exemption application for the financial year 2020/2021;
– Litigation brought by the dismissed Chief Audit Executive;
– Salary exemption application for the financial year 2023/2024;
– Court interdict for capacity workers;
– Court interdicts for unprotected Samwu strike in 2021 and 2023;
– Dismissals of 126 employees during the 2023 unprotected strike;
– Unprotected strike at Tshwane Bus Services;
– Dismissal of the divisional head in the Transport Department;
– Dismissal of the divisional head in the Group Human Capital Management Department;
– Dismissal of group head of the Regional Operations and Co-ordination Department;
– Termination of services of the group head of the Legal Services Department;
– Disciplinary hearing of five employees charged for the Rooiwal Water Treatment Plant tender.

Mashigo said these cases were complex and required skilled legal expertise and experience.

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