ANTI-WORKER DA CANNOT RULE TSHWANE FROM THE GRAVE

4 November 2025

ANTI-WORKER DA CANNOT RULE TSHWANE FROM THE GRAVE

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) strongly condemns the statement issued by DA Tshwane Cllr Jacqui Uys, which attacks the integrity of the SALGBC ruling and attempts to intimidate the City into defying the law. This is a cynical, desperate, and treasonous attempt by the Democratic Alliance to rule Tshwane from the grave.

The DA’s statement, which falsely labels this binding award as “flawed and ruinous,” is a declaration of open war against the working class and a direct, contemptuous assault on the collective bargaining institutions of our democracy. We remind the public that this financial crisis was manufactured under the DA administration, which initially denied workers both the 3.5% (2021/22) and the subsequent 5.4% (2023/24) salary increases. Their claim to champion the city’s financial health rings hollow when their own mismanagement created the budget deficits they now fraudulently use as an excuse to avoid paying workers.

The DA’s stance reveals its maliciously hostile anti-black and anti-worker agenda. The overwhelming majority of workers rightfully owed these long-overdue increases are black employees. The DA’s continued opposition is a clear, cold-hearted expression of a party dedicated to obstructing the legitimate financial advancement of the working majority in the municipality. The current financial abyss in the City of Tshwane is the shameful and undeniable legacy of the instability, corruption, and catastrophic financial neglect that characterised the periods when the DA held political power.

Furthermore, the DA’s selective quoting of the SALGBC award is dishonest and a deliberate deception. While the Commissioner did concede the amount is “very huge,” this observation was precisely the reason a six-month implementation period was granted, a period for the City to manage the logistics of payment, not a finding that the City is bankrupt. The Commissioner clearly stated in the award that the City’s refusal to budget for the increase was deliberate and that it had the liquidity and increasing collection rates to justify paying the increase, stating plainly: “We do not believe that the Applicant’s liquidity challenges… warrant an an exemption from paying the salary increase.” The DA ignores these facts and relies on outright fear-mongering and lies.

The DA’s call for the City to take this binding decision on judicial review is not only fiscally irresponsible, but also a directive to subvert justice and continue the costly legal bloodbath that has already wasted tens of millions in public funds. We are demanding the City Manager, Mr. Johann Mettler, immediately reject this self-serving, legally illiterate advice from the DA and respect the solemn ruling of the SALGBC. Any attempt to appeal this matter will be met with the full force of SAMWU’s legal and organisational power.

We want to remind the public that it was this same DA that had the audacity to declare: “If you are unable to tell SAMWU that there is no money for salary increases, you will have nothing to inherit.” This statement is proof of their mindset, treating the municipality not as a public servant institution, but as a monarchy with a treasure chest to be inherited. They attempt to isolate workers, painting them as a financial burden, yet these very workers are also the ratepayers of Tshwane who pay the rates and taxes that continue to increase.

The most pathetic hypocrisy of all is that when the City recently voted and approved a 5% salary increase for Councillors, the DA remained silent on affordability because they and their political elite stood to benefit. Their crocodile tears for the City’s budget only flow when it is time to pay the hardworking municipal staff.

SAMWU stands resoundingly vindicated. We will not allow the DA, or any political party, to use the integrity of service delivery as a shield to deny workers their legally binding dues. We demand the immediate payment of workers’ 3.5% salary increases as per the SALGBC award and the unconditional reinstatement of the 41 unfairly dismissed workers.

The time for political games is over!

Issued by SAMWU Secretariat

Dumisane Magagula, General Secretary, (076 580 4029), Nkhetheni Muthavhi, Deputy General Secretary, (082 526 5224) or Papikie Mohale, National Media Officer (076 795 8670)