Krugersdorp News reports that workers in Mogale City Local Municipality’s employ are still on a go-slow as seemingly negotiations between the municipality’s management and the workers’ unions have not proved fruitful.  

The go-slow started on 22 May when the workers did not receive payment for the hours they have worked during the lockdown.  By 25 May they took to the street and started to burn tyres and rubbish bins, leaving the community frustrated as municipal services such as refuse collection have not been rendered since.  In a television broadcast on 26 May, it was reported that the municipality and the unions involved had come to an agreement, and that the workers were subsequently paid and ordered to go back to work.  But as of Monday, 1 June, negotiations were still ongoing, and workers had still not received payment.  Meanwhile, according to the local Democratic Alliance (DA), at a virtual council meeting last week the ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) approved a R100 million overdraft facility as a solution to the council’s financial shortfall.  The DA and Freedom Front Plus (FF+) opposed the move, while the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) abstained.  “This quick fix for their financial shortfall will have a dire effect on ratepayers in Mogale City. Furthermore, the municipality has nothing to show for all the money it keeps on borrowing,” the DA said.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Janine Viljoen at The Citizen

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