The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality is demanding the municipality tackle an overtime bill that regularly exceeds the standard salary bill, a situation the party claims has persisted for years and points to severe financial mismanagement.
This call comes amid an ongoing legal and labour dispute between the municipality and its workers over the implementation of a new shift system, which has led to the suspension of more than 30 employees.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) successfully challenged the shift system in the Labour Court, arguing that proper consultation was not conducted. The court ordered the municipality to restore the workers’ previous conditions of employment and interdicted the shift system.
According to EFF Mangaung Chairperson, Gopolang Lipale, workers complied with the “unlawful” system initially but approached the court after their rights were violated. He stated that when workers presented the court order to the municipality on September 5th, expecting a return to their original working conditions, they were instead suspended.
“The employer is trying to make shortcuts here… bypassing all the necessary processes and go straight to implementing [a] shift system without consulting with the employees,” Lipale said. He argued that targeting overtime is not the best method for cost-cutting, pointing to the Auditor-General’s reports that highlight “millions, billions of rand” in wasteful expenditure.
Lipale condemned the scale of the overtime spending, revealing that over R14 million was paid in overtime alone for the month of July. He questioned the logic where a worker earning a R10,000 salary could receive R20,000 in overtime, stating, “What are you saying? Are you saying that you are now hindering two jobs for one person?” He cited this as evidence of poor planning and a lack of financial control, further criticizing the municipality for alleged payments to a jailed employee and even to individuals who have long since retired.
The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) also lamented the municipality’s finances, noting that in the 2024/2025 financial year, the metro overspent by R136 million. A DA representative stated that this money could have been used to fix potholes and infrastructure, blaming the “incapability” of the Municipal Manager, Mr. More, to correctly implement the shift system.
In contrast, the ANC expressed support for the shift system as a measure to address irregularities flagged by the Auditor-General. However, an ANC spokesperson emphasized that the municipality must work with labour forums to ensure thorough consultations. “Our deployees are doing well in terms of the shift system, but we are saying the shift system must be an agreement… so that it is not a system that is implemented without a thorough consultation,” the spokesperson said.
The Mangaung Metro maintains that an agreement was reached through the local labour forum. It has announced that a meeting is scheduled for next week Tuesday to resolve the matter and that management will look into the cases of the suspended workers.