The Witness reports that the South African Municipal Worker’s Union (SAMWU) and the municipality reached a deal on Tuesday, ending a strike that has battered service delivery across the city. The breakthrough came after mounting pressure on the union and municipality to resolve the dispute, particularly after many municipal employees — including those who had not joined the strike — did not receive their salaries on time.
The agreement was signed at City Hall before a delegation from the South African Local Government Bargaining Council, bringing an end to an industrial dispute that began in June. SAMWU chairperson in Msunduzi Brandon George said the union was relieved that the municipality had finally acknowledged workers’ grievances. “This is a significant win for the workers,” George said.
The agreement addresses several of the union’s key demands, including payment of outstanding overtime and a job evaluation process for general assistants. One of the major demands was the regrading of general assistants from Task Level 3 to Task Level 7. This could have significant financial implications for the municipality by placing affected employees on higher salary scales. George said the union had agreed to appoint Deloitte to conduct a job evaluation process, acknowledging that any changes to employees’ grades had to comply with labour and legal requirements.
“From a legal perspective, you cannot shift workers around without the necessary labour-related processes,” he said. Payment of outstanding overtime was another major issue for the union. George said workers had been required to work overtime to ensure essential services continued, but faced delays in being paid for those hours.
Samwu’s strike began in June and was temporarily suspended midway through the month to allow negotiations with the municipality to continue.
However, workers returned to the streets last week, accusing the employer of failing to negotiate in good faith and adequately address their demands.
The renewed strike severely disrupted municipal operations and service delivery, with residents and businesses bearing the brunt of growing backlogs.
Tensions escalated further when many municipal employees did not receive their salaries on time, prompting anger among workers who had not participated in the strike and adding pressure for an urgent settlement. Among the union’s other demands were the absorption of contract workers into permanent, funded positions, payment of outstanding overtime and the regrading of general assistants. Msunduzi Mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla said municipal leadership had participated in five meetings since Tuesday last week to resolve the outstanding issues.
He said the engagements had at times been difficult but had ultimately resulted in an agreement on 10 issues under negotiation. According to the agreement, which The Witness has seen, the municipality will pay all outstanding overtime due to employees by no later than September 30, provided all required information is submitted to city manager Felani Mndebele by Monday.
The City will also pay all employees who are owed standby allowances and reinstate the standby roster for the traffic and security units by September 30. The “no work, no pay” rule will be applied to all workers who participated in the strike, although this will be further negotiated between the two parties. The municipality has not disclosed the agreement’s actual financial implications, but Mndebele said a new job description for general assistants had been conceptualised.
“We will have to absorb those implications and make up for it in the 2027 financial year,” said Mndebele. The Msunduzi Association of Residents, Ratepayers and Civics (Marrc) said the strike had negatively affected service delivery and caused major inconvenience for residents and businesses.
Chief executive Anthony Waldhausen welcomed the end of the industrial action and called for continued engagement between the municipality and unions. “We hope that the management and union can resolve to embark on continuous dialogues and address grievances more productively,” he said.
Msunduzi spokesperson Ntobeko Mkhize said the municipality’s focus had now shifted to restoring services and clearing backlogs accumulated during the strike. Mkhize said both parties had agreed that the grading of general assistants would be determined by the outcome of the Deloitte job evaluation process, with the remaining adjustments made according to the signed agreement.
by Chris Ndaliso