Former Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink has weighed in on the city's decision to continue fighting in the Labour Court against paying historical salary increases to municipal employees.
According to him, forgoing the salary increases is crucial for the city's financial recovery, particularly in addressing its Eskom debt.
On Monday, Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya announced that the city appeared before the Labour Court to review decisions related to wage increases.
The municipality is seeking a fresh evaluation by a new panellist for the 3.5% wage increase and has asked the Labour Court to substitute the panellist's decision for the 5.4% increase.
“On 21 and 22 November 2024 the city appeared before the Labour Court to review decisions by the panellist dismissing its applications for exemption from the 3.5% and 5.4% wage increases for the first and third years of the agreement, respectively,” Moya said.
She said the city believed both decisions overlooked its financial constraints and broader implications for service delivery.
Brink said both the ANC and ActionSA voted in favor of forgoing salary increases in 2023 but later criticised his mayoralty for not paying the increases.
“While both the ANC and ActionSA voted in favour of forgoing salary increases in 2023, they later tried to weaponise the matter against my mayoralty. ‘Just pay the workers’ was a familiar attack on me and my colleagues when we were making difficult decisions about the city’s financial recovery, despite the ANC and ActionSA voting against the increases,” he said.
He also pointed out that the ANC had raised expectations that the increases would be paid once they took charge.
“A few weeks ago, Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya insisted that the increases would be paid regardless of the ‘modalities’,” he said.
While the city's settlement with Eskom on arrear debt is a positive development, Brink warned that it will require strict financial discipline from Tshwane.
“It would seem that the writing-off of Eskom’s interest on arrear debt is conditional on the city sticking to its payment plan. If this settlement becomes an order of Court, it will require iron-like financial discipline from Tshwane. If one Eskom payment is missed, it might mean that the deal is lost and that all arrears become due and payable immediately,” he said.
Pretoria News