SAMWU Condemns Tshwane’s R44 Million Lawyer Splurge While Workers Suffer

17 February 2025

SAMWU Condemns Tshwane’s R44 Million Lawyer Splurge While Workers Suffer

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) in the Tshwane Region stands vindicated, but outraged by the Sunday Times article published 16 February 2025, revealing the City of Tshwane’s shameful squandering of R44 million on a single law firm over three years. 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.

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.

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.

It is immoral and unconscionable for the City to shower lawyers with millions while workers struggle to feed their families. How can a municipality claim poverty when refusing salary increases, yet find endless reserves to bankroll legal firms? How can it justify outsourcing justice to entities that actively undermine workers’ rights? This is not governance; it is exploitation.

SAMWU demands immediate action. 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. The outsourcing of legal services, particularly in disciplinary cases, must come to an end. These matters must be handled internally to ensure fairness and accountability. Furthermore, the City must immediately implement the outstanding salary increases for workers, funded by redirecting the millions wasted on private firms.

The time for empty promises is over. The City’s priorities are clear: it values lawyers over labourers, profit over people, and secrecy over service. SAMWU will not rest until every cent of public money is accounted for, until workers receive what they are owed, and until this culture of reckless outsourcing is dismantled.

Enough is enough—the era of impunity must end.

Issued by SAMWU Tshwane Region

Regional Secretary
Donald Monakhisi
066 591 4548

Or

Deputy Regional Secretary
Simon Leburu
083 672 3944