The Buffalo City Metro council on Wednesday approved the payment of R29m to restore “harmonious relations” with workers who recently went on strike.
As part of the settlement, the city agreed to pay R6,000 to each of more than 4,800 organised workers from an “ex-gratia hardship relief” fund.
In a report presented at a virtual special council meeting on Wednesday, city manager Mxolisi Yawa said the decision to make the one-off R29m payment was part of a collective agreement reached by the Local Labour Forum (LLF) after the strike.
This payment is not part of disputed amounts, including a Covid-19 danger allowance that prompted city employees to take to the streets several times in 2025, disrupting services and destroying metro assets.
The strike, mostly by members of the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), was finally halted with the intervention of the Eastern Cape ANC.
Yawa told the council on Wednesday the ex-gratia payment, which he also referred to as hardship relief, was exceptional and would not be allowed to set a precedent.
“It will be made to employees from task grade two to 15, to alleviate the hardship which has been caused while normalising operations,” he said.
“The purpose of this ... payment is to settle the dispute giving rise to the [recent] strike, cease the further destruction of the municipality’s assets and infrastructure, cease the interruption of services and minimise the reputational damage and harm caused to the municipality.”
Yawa said the payment was agreed to “secure the immediate return of the [striking] employees to the workplace and to restore harmonious labour relations”.
The compensation “is differentiated and targets the vulnerable and frontline employee categories”. It excludes senior administration bosses, those on task grade 16 and above, expanded public works programme and community development project participants, and interns.
The amount will be paid in three phases, with those in task grades 2-9 receiving their windfall this month, 10-12 on November 24 and those paid at task grades 13-15 by December 24.
Yawa said the phased payment was to ease the financial burden on a city challenged by a “distressed financial position”.
“Such payments shall be framed as a discretionary ex-gratia hardship relief measure, granted in extraordinary circumstances of industrial hardship, and not as remuneration or a condition of service,” he added.
It would be accounted for “in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act, with appropriate financial disclosures, to avoid classification as irregular expenditure”.
One of the grievances that led to the strike was the failure to pay Covid-19 danger allowances to frontline workers who had performed official duties while the country was under lockdown.
Yawa said the delays in finalising negotiations over the Covid-19 payments at the central bargaining council “remain a threat to labour peace”.
City officials will draft a comprehensive danger allowance policy, through consultations at the local labour forum, for council approval by no later than December, Yawa said.
Samwu regional chair Yaliwe Govuza refused to comment on the latest developments, saying the union has yet to be officially informed of the decision.
Siyanda Yamba, the secretary of the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) which was part of the bargaining agreement, welcomed the council’s decision.
“It encourages stable local government … and it will bring peace between the employees and municipal bosses,” Yamba said.
DA councillor Vaughan Holmes said the payment to employees was tantamount to giving in to extortion.
“This feels like extortion because we are asked here to reward the very same people who trashed the metro. What an insult to the ratepaying public. We cannot agree to this,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that only now, weeks after the strike, the council is noting what happened in LLF negotiations and is being asked to rubberstamp a decision that has significant financial implications.”
The matter was discussed in a confidential session, and it is understood that while a number of ANC councillors supported the payment, those from parties including the EFF, UDM, PAC and ACDP refused to comment on the developments.
Scott Roebert of the Beacon Bay Residents’ Association said he sympathised with the plight of metro workers but added that paying extra funds to city employees was the last thing the metro could afford, especially given the poor level of basic services.
“It is very disappointing that workers have to picket and destroy municipal property to be heard,” he said. “There needs to be a better process for grievances to be aired.”
Roebert urged municipal staff to work “as efficiently as possible to get ahead of the service delivery backlog” now that they would be paid extra.
“We hope that this ‘hardship relief payment’ won’t reward such poor behaviour in the years to come,” he added.
Daily Dispatch
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