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By Rapula Moatshe 
1 hour ago
Pretoria: The cash-strapped city of Tshwane will disburse millions of rand to its estimated 25,000 employees this holiday season as part of payments tied to a benchmarking agreement.
Pretoria News was informed that the decision to settle benchmarking payments was made last week and would be communicated to unions and workers during the course of this week.
The decision came after Mayor Randall Williams’ concerns that the city had fallen into a deficit of R4.4 billion while under the control of previous administrators.
When he took office in November, Williams lashed out at administrators for spending a surplus of R284m left by the district attorney-led administration before the council was dissolved in March.
He regretted the fact that the metro was in financial trouble with a significant deficit of R4.4bn.
Speaking to Pretoria News, Williams defended the decision to pay benchmarking money that is expected to be the last package to workers.
The payments would be in line with the decision to upgrade the municipality from category 9 to 10 by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in 2017.
While the metro received a new classification at the time, workers’ wages were not adjusted accordingly.
Williams said: “It is not a question of affordability. There were agreements that were signed by the administrators and then-Mayor Stevens Mokgalapa. For me it is very important that we respect legal commitments and agreements ”.
He said that the date to comply with the agreement would be December 26.
“There is an agreement in force. The problem is not that they worry about payments; the point is that they think about their commitment because it is not a one-way street.
“It’s also about what I’m delivering when it comes to serving residents. It is a two-way street. Yes, you have the right to earn a salary, but on the other hand the residents have the right to receive a good provision of basic services, “said Williams.
Chief of Staff Griffith Jordan said: “We have had a strong engagement with the HR and Finance departments. We concluded the position on Friday and that position will be formally communicated to the employees no later than Monday (today) and I think it is the position that the unions would find favorable ”.
He said the position was to ensure that the City complied with the negotiating agreements.
“It is important for the City to move forward; It is now a Category 10 city and it is important that you move your employees to the relevant scales. You need to make sure this is done properly and this final benchmarking will conclude that process. The intention is to conclude the matter before the end of the year, ”he said.
SA Municipal Workers Union regional secretary Mpho Tladinyane said Samwu was still awaiting a response from Williams after a meeting on the benchmarking of payments between the two parties on November 9.
“The executive mayor promised to respond to our problem. On December 8 we remind the mayor and we are waiting for his response, ”he said.
In July, the union embarked on a protest after then-chief administrator Mpho Nawa expressed concern that the City would not be able to pay the payments given the impact of Covid-19 on its finances. However, the impasse was resolved after the local government MEC Lebogang Maile intervened and the workers were finally paid.
Last year in December, the City paid R500 million in payments, but it was unclear how much it was going to spend on workers this year.
Pretoria News
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