SAMWU Condemns New Salaries of Municipal Managers 

8 November 2018

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) has learnt with great disappointment the Determination of Upper Limits which regulates the salaries of Municipal Managers.

As Gazetted on the 8th November 2018, City Managers are set to receive an annual salary of R3.9 million while those reporting directly to Municipal Managers will be receiving over R3 million annually.

These increases happen when municipal workers are heavily underpaid, when municipal workers demand a fairer salary increment they are told that their demands are simply unaffordable whereas those sitting in air-conditioned offices are swimming in pools of money, those who are subjected to rain, wind and sun daily are given peanuts.

These increases are extended at a time wherein municipalities are intensifying their strategy of delivering services through the use of the Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) hence their reluctance to fill vacancies.

It is a shame that these increases were Gazetted on the same week that EPWP workers’ salaries were increased by a mere R4.31 per day. It does not make sense how a Municipal Manager can be remunerated 180 times more than the least paid employee in the sector. These are the people who are responsible for the real business of service delivery.

It is for this reason that SAMWU this reason that SAMWU will be intensifying its campaign for the absorption of all EPWP workers by municipalities on a permanent basis. EPWP participants are delivering a municipal service and as such they should be absorbed by municipalities.

We maintain that the ridiculous and highly inflated salaries given to Municipal Managers could should be redirected towards service delivery and for better remunerating  municipal workers.

Issued by Simon Mathe, General Secretary, SAMWU, 8 November 2018