News24Wire reports that municipal staff and officials at State-owned entities (SOEs) are suffering as a seemingly countrywide delay in paying salaries has hit home.  

On Tuesday, the news broke that state-owned arms manufacturer Denel would not be able to pay full salaries to its more than 3,000 staff this month.  During his State of the Nation speech in parliament later on Tuesday, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan announced that a lender had been found and full salaries would be paid.  But Denel is not the only government entity struggling to pay salaries this month.  Letters and memorandums from various Free State municipalities and the provincial treasury highlighted financial constraints and delayed payments.  Municipalities elsewhere in the country with salary payment difficulties include the North West District Municipality of Dr Ruth S Momati and the Amahlathi Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape.  On Wednesday, the SA Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) said it was "angered and agitated by the continuous failure by municipalities to pay workers their salaries in full and on time".  According to the union, more than 30 municipalities had indicated that they would not be able to pay full salaries or at all.  The union said it had met with newly appointed Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and her deputy, Parks Tau, and that the issue of non-payment of salaries had been highlighted.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News

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