LIMPOPO – Over 1 600 South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) members working at the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) in Thohoyandou downed tools last week as they embarked on a go-slow.

Workers demand a salary increase and say they will not return to work unless their demands are met.

Samwu secretary in the Vhembe District Khathu Mapholi said they resolved not to go to different places of work but to come to work every day and gather in the council chamber (where municipal meetings are held).

He added that level 4 workers have been negatively affected as their salaries have not increased since 2017 and neglected in terms of benefits such as pension, car allowances, medical and housing allowances while senior management have had their benefits increased.

A resident of Tshakhuma village, outside Thohoyandou, Maria Mulovhedzi was left disappointed when she couldn’t purchase water, adding that it poses a serious challenge to life in villages if they aren’t able to access basic amenities because of the strike.

VDM spokesperson, Matodzi Ralushai said they met with union representatives last Monday (March 13) but it could not bear fruits as no agreement was reached regarding salary hike.

“We don’t have enough money as the district municipality to increase workers’ salaries. We will need R40m to be able to solve grievances and benefits,” said Ralushai.

He said negotiations will be held with workers at senior management level (those who had their salaries increased) to try and find a way to pay their increase back to the municipality.

Meanwhile, VDM was one of the municipalities which unlawfully invested R300 million from the now defunct VBS Mutual Bank and have only been refunded R22m so far.
Most of the workers had not returned to work at the time of going to print.