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The South African government is opposing an offer by unions to force the state to honor a public service wage agreement, warning that the agreement would impose R37.8 billion ($ 2.2 billion) of additional debt on the country.
In April, the government reneged on an agreement to increase the salary of more than 1.2 million servants as part of an effort to stabilize state finances.
The Association of Public Officials, which represents some 250,000 government workers, took the dispute to the Coordinating Council of Public Service Negotiations and the matter is now before the Labor Court.
PSA spokesman Reuben Maleka and South African Democratic Teachers Union Secretary General Mugwena Maluleke said their organizations oppose the government. “We are hopeful that the court will rule in our favor,” Maleka said by telephone on September 29.
Freezing the salaries of civil servants is central to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s plans to cut public spending by R230 billion over the next two years to curb rising debt. About a third of the annual government budget of R 1.9 trillion is spent on the pay of state workers.
Mboweni is scheduled to present his medium-term budget later this month.
‘Increase unaffordable’
Increasing the salaries of government employees is unaffordable, particularly given the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on state finances, Treasury CEO Dondo Mogajane said in an affidavit on July 17.
“The government is forced by the Covid-19 pandemic to spend public funds (which are already in deficit) to alleviate the plight of the poor and vulnerable,” he said. “Unfortunately, the government simply cannot in these circumstances grant the applicant’s request for additional increases.”
Administration and Public Service Minister Senzo Mchunu backed the Treasury in an affidavit on September 25.
Mboweni presented an emergency budget in June in which he pointed to a primary budget surplus for 2023-24. This month’s announcement is expected to describe spending reductions and revenue adjustment measures amounting to approximately R 250 billion over the next two years.
Mogajane emphasized that while the government cannot afford to raise the salary of civil servants, employees do not face pay freezes or pay cuts as some in the private sector have.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has come at a great cost to employment in the private sector, and many remaining employees do not receive raises or even experience pay cuts to preserve employment,” he said. “The jobs of the requesting members, on the other hand, are not threatened. Nor are their salaries reduced ”.
Read: If the government has no money to pay public wages, what are they stealing?
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