Overview
- More than 300 municipal and water-sector workers marched through Pretoria on Thursday to demand unpaid salaries, job security and functioning local services.
- The South African Communist Party formally joined SAMWU's National Day of Action and Solly Mapaila accused Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana of abandoning a developmental-state approach in favor of a neoliberal, austerity-driven agenda.
- National Treasury has temporarily withheld R13.5-billion in equitable-share transfers to 69 municipalities, saying the measure enforces the Municipal Finance Management Act and forces improvements in governance and accountability.
- SAMWU and the SACP say the funding controls are starving municipalities, causing delayed pay, worsening water and refuse services, and increasing pressure to outsource or privatise local services.
- The public split inside the ANC-led alliance raises the stakes for decisions over Operation Vulindlela-style reforms, municipal financing and service delivery, and could directly affect how poor communities access water, electricity and waste collection.