The City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee (Mayco) has approved a plan to protect frontline service delivery from budget cuts needed to fund the municipal wage increase. On 15 November 2021, the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) dismissed the City’s application for exemption from the new salary and collective wage agreement for local government. The City is now required to make over R477 million in budget cuts to fund the SALGBC increase in this financial year alone.
The Collective Agreement includes a 3,5% increase for municipal employees with effect from 1 July 2021, valid for three years until 2023.
While the SALGBC ruling places the City under financial strain, proactive measures are under way to protect frontline service delivery from the impact of the R477 million budget cuts required to fund the wage increase.
Funding will be attained through, inter alia, management vacancy cuts, savings from efficiencies, reductions to salary-related personnel costs, and savings from cost containment efforts.
I have requested that we protect frontline services from budget cuts, especially in water and sanitation, safety, and community cleaning.
Where vacant posts need to be cut, these will be management posts, and not frontline service posts. Where cuts to contractual services are required, this will exclude contracts related to basic services in communities.
On this basis, the Mayoral Committee supported the funding proposal as the most viable course of action, following the bargaining council’s dismissal of the City’s exemption application.
Our application followed the devastation which has been wrought in our country by the Covid-19 pandemic, and which has been felt most personally by families in the loss of loved ones, but also in the loss of millions of jobs and the closure of tens of thousands of businesses. All of these losses and closures represent extreme financial hardship for the people involved, many of them residents of Cape Town.
This hardship has left many families without income, or with severely diminished income, and the ability of those families to absorb additional costs is now very limited indeed.
I have spoken about our common service of a higher purpose – the service of our residents and the building of a city that sets the standards for South Africa. We appreciate the effort of every single member of staff in the City who work to help build the city we envision.
It is important to acknowledge the valuable contributions of staff working under difficult conditions throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and national lockdowns. Going forward, the commitment, dedication and professionalism from all of those employed by the City will be required even more so. Now, more than ever, we have to ensure that the City is responsive, accessible, and accountable to the needs of residents.
Source: City Of Cape Town