Vaal – It looks like, this year, Santa and his bag of toys for the children is taking a detour away from the houses of Emfuleni municipal workers.
That is because municipal workers might not get paid on Friday and they will not be able to participate in keeping the Father Christmas myth alive for their children.
All because Eskom has taken charge of their heavily indebted employer’s bank account – their payday is now in jeopardy.
As of 14 December 2022, the Emfuleni Municipality was owing Eskom R5 billion.
So far Eskom secured two payment enforcement orders from the court against the struggling municipality.
The first court order was secured in 2018 to enforce the payment of R71 million owed by the municipality. The second one was secured this year in October for R1.3 billion, which was outstanding.
Intervening on behalf of the municipal workers, the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) on Thursday raised the alarm.
Already, the council failed to pay salaries on 20 December 2022, as it had promised, before it announced a new payday.
The council has since informed workers that they will be paid on Friday, 23 December 2020.
SAMWU said the municipality only has about R328 million in the bank, which it can not access because Eskom has attached it to enforce debt recovery.
The union revealed that Eskom was demanding an immediate payment of R368 million before it lifts its hold on the municipality’s bank account.
SAMWU said it has been informed by the cash-strapped municipality that it was engaging Eskom about a proposed payment plan.
“Workers’ salaries for tomorrow might not be paid as expected,” warned SAMWU.
The union said it was disturbed by Eskom’s move to attach the municipality’s bank account through a court order.
“This unfortunate situation may lead to a possibility of workers at Emfuleni Local Municipality not being paid their December 2022 salaries,” SAMWU reiterated.
“We are informed that Emfuleni has communicated to employees that they are still engaging Eskom and employees will be paid on 23 December 2022.”
The union said it had engaged the municipality and Office of the Premier for intervention.
“We appreciate the intervention of the Premier in trying to resolve the matter,” said SAMWU.
“We are appealing to both the Premier and the minister of public enterprises to intervene and ensure that workers are paid their December salaries.
“Workers cannot suffer due to the failure of both Emfuleni and ESKOM reaching an agreement.”
The union said it was demanding that Eskom lift the attachment on the municipality’s bank account to enable workers to be paid their salaries.
“Apart from subjecting workers to a black Christmas, the non-payment of salaries will have a dire consequence for workers noting that medical aid, retirement funds, and insurance will not be paid,” said SAMWU.
“Workers will also not be in a position to buy school books for their kids.
“The situation which the Emfuleni Local Municipality faces is testament to the non-existent Inter-governmental Relations between the three spheres of government.
“The fact that a state-owned entity is allowed to sabotage another organ of the state leads to surmise that government departments are operating as though South Africa is a federal state.”
In 2019, the municipality was placed under administration through Section 139 of the countrys constitution, an intervention which SAMWU said, “has not materialised in any tangible results for residents, workers and service delivery”.
SAMWU added: “In the interest of ensuring that our members are paid for the services which they have already rendered to the municipality as an employer, the union has taken a decision to immediately approach the courts for urgent relief”.
SAMWU said the decision to approach the court was also based on the fear that the attachment of the bank account would also result in a collapse of service delivery.
“We further call on the intervention of the Department of Public Enterprise to immediately engage with Eskom, the Gauteng Provincial Government, and the Emfuleni Local Municipality to find an amicable solution to the current impasse,” SAMWU said.
“There is no caring government that will allow workers to be subjected to a bleak Christmas.”
Eskom, which is implementing Stage 4 load-shedding, is owed about R50 billion by many of the country’s 278 municipalities.
