Water sector workers represented in the Amanzi Bargaining Council will receive an across-the-board, above-inflation wage rise of 7%, thanks to a one-year pay deal.
Dumisane Magagula, general secretary of Samwu, the biggest municipal union representing about 160,000 of the country’s nearly 300,000 municipal workers, said the wage agreement is effective from July 1.
As part of the wage deal, workers will be entitled to a R3,500 housing allowance, five days long-service leave for each five years of service, and all water boards must conduct a benchmarking exercise within three months of signing the agreement. The exercise, which could put a strain on the water boards’ finances, is aimed at harmonising workers’ salaries across the water boards.
The country’s water boards include Amatola Water, Bloem Water, Lepelle Northern Water, Magalies Water, Mhlathuze Water, Overberg Water, Rand Water and Umgeni Water. The boards’ functions include operating dams and other bulk water supply infrastructure and providing technical know-how to municipalities.
What is most worrying is that these debts are escalating rapidly, and this poses a grave risk to the financial sustainability of the water sector
— Senzo Mchunu, water & sanitation minister
Addressing a mini-plenary of the National Assembly in his budget vote speech in May, water & sanitation minister Senzo Mchunu said municipalities owed water boards R16.7bn, while municipalities and the water boards owed the department (which has its own water trading entity) R17.4bn. “What is most worrying is that these debts are escalating rapidly, and this poses a grave risk to the financial sustainability of the water sector,” he said.
Magagula said further demands pertaining to annual leave, funeral transport, first aid/firefighting/safety, health, environment and quality allowances, cellphone/data, maternity leave, overtime/statutory overtime/parental leave, meal allowances, pay progression, retirement functions, and tool allowances “have been deferred to plant level and shall be concluded within three months of signing this agreement”.
SA is a water-scarce country and its economic and financial hub, Gauteng, which contributes nearly 40% to national GDP, has not been spared. The demand for access to clean, potable water has seen many communities protesting for supply of the precious resource.
A cholera outbreak was reported in Hammanskraal, north of capital city Tshwane, in May, an area where residents have protested and demanded clean water for years. In 2019, the SA Human Rights Commission found the water at Hammanskraal to be unfit for human consumption.
The water crisis in Hammanskraal has continued since 2005 when the Rooiwal water treatment plant started malfunctioning due to receiving volumes greater than it could handle. The plant has been discharging untreated or partially treated sewage into the Apies River, which flows into the Leeukraal Dam — the main source of water for the town of about 20,000 people.
The cholera outbreak killed more than 20 people, spurring the government to announce ambitious plans in June to spend almost R80bn to address the water challenges blighting SA.
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