SAMWU REJECTS SALGA’S ATTEMPT TO INTIMIDATE AND DEMOBILISE MUNICIPAL WORKERS AHEAD OF NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION

7 July 2026

SAMWU REJECTS SALGA’S ATTEMPT TO INTIMIDATE AND DEMOBILISE MUNICIPAL WORKERS AHEAD OF NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) has noted with contempt the circular issued by SALGA Gauteng Province seeking to discourage municipal workers from participating in the Union’s National Day of Action on 9 July 2026.

The reckless communication is nothing more than an attempt to intimidate workers, suppress legitimate worker mobilisation and shield National Treasury from growing public opposition to its destructive austerity agenda.

We place on record that we formally notified SALGA National of the planned march well in advance and informed it that a memorandum would be delivered to the President of SALGA. We further confirm that SALGA National has indicated that it neither authorised nor sanctioned the circular issued by SALGA Gauteng Province. The actions of SALGA Gauteng are therefore unfortunate and irresponsible.

Municipal workers must reject every attempt to sow confusion, fear and division within our ranks. Throughout history, institutions of power have sought to portray worker mobilisation as disruptive while remaining silent on the real causes of social and economic crises. Today, SALGA has chosen to stand with those seeking to silence workers instead of confronting the policies that are systematically destroying local government. The irony is striking.

At this very moment that National Treasury is withholding equitable share allocations from municipalities, a decision that threatens workers’ salaries, pension contributions, medical aid deductions, third-party payments and the continued delivery of basic municipal services, SALGA has chosen not to challenge Treasury. Instead, it directs its energy towards intimidating the very workers who continue to keep municipalities functioning despite years of underfunding, austerity and institutional neglect.

If SALGA were genuinely concerned about service delivery, its outrage would be directed at National Treasury, whose latest decision places municipalities on the brink of financial collapse. Instead of condemning Treasury’s assault on local government, SALGA has elected to become an enforcer of the very austerity programme that has crippled municipalities across South Africa.

SAMWU has consistently argued that the crisis confronting municipalities is the result of years of budget cuts, chronic underfunding, political instability, corruption, vacancies, outsourcing, weakening of collective bargaining and National Treasury’s relentless interference in local government. The latest decision to withhold equitable share allocations simply confirms what workers have long understood: National Treasury has become one of the greatest obstacles to developmental local government and quality public services.

Our National Day of Action is therefore not simply about delivering memoranda.

It is an expression of organised working-class power.

It is a declaration that workers will not remain silent while decisions affecting their livelihoods and the future of local government are taken without them.

It is a rejection of austerity, privatisation, budget cuts and the systematic erosion of public services.

It is a defence of collective bargaining, decent work and developmental local government.

Municipal workers understand better than anyone that society is built through labour. It is workers who ensure that water flows, refuse is collected, electricity networks operate, roads are maintained and communities receive essential services every day. Yet those whose labour sustains municipalities are repeatedly expected to shoulder the burden of fiscal consolidation while those responsible for policy failures escape accountability.

This contradiction lies at the heart of the struggle facing municipal workers today.

SAMWU therefore encourages every municipal worker to participate proudly in the National Day of Action, during which memoranda will be delivered to:

National Treasury;
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs;
The Department of Water and Sanitation; and
The Office of the Premier of Gauteng.
Throughout history, every significant gain made by workers has been won through collective struggle. The eight-hour working day, collective bargaining rights, workplace protections, decent wages and safer working conditions were never gifts from employers or governments. They were victories secured through organisation, solidarity and sacrifice.

SALGA should remember this history before attempting to intimidate workers.

We therefore caution SALGA that it is dangerously misreading the mood of municipal workers. Every attempt to threaten, intimidate or demobilise workers only deepens workers. By acting as an extension of National Treasury rather than as the representative voice of municipalities, SALGA is inviting the wrath of municipal workers across South Africa.

We, along with our members will not be intimidated. No circular, no threat and no attempt to criminalise worker mobilisation will divert us from defending municipal workers, public services and the future of local government.

We therefore call on every municipal worker to reject fear, reject intimidation and stand with fellow workers on 9 July 2026 as we march to defend collective bargaining, reject austerity and the interference of National Treasury in municipal affairs.

Issued by SAMWU Secretariat

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