The Ekurhuleni metro say discussions between the city and disgruntled metro police officials who embarked on an illegal wage protest last month continue.
“On Monday, we had a follow-up meeting to give feedback from the city’s point of view, regarding the issues raised,” Ekurhuleni finance MMC Jongizizwe Dlabathi told Business Day on Tuesday. “The discussions are ongoing.”
On March 19, disgruntled Ekurhuleni metro police department (EMPD) officials used the department’s official vehicles to blockade crucial routes, including the R21, R24, N12, N17 and N3, which connect the metro to Africa’s busiest airport, OR Tambo International, and link Gauteng to KwaZulu-Natal and other provinces.
The EMPD protest came two weeks after the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), the country’s largest labour representative in local government, expressed displeasure over Ekurhuleni’s decision to cut overtime pay for its 16,000-strong workforce by 50%.
The metro, which is struggling financially, said this was part of its revenue enhancement strategy, with Dlabathi criticising the “culture of overtime” in the municipality.
“In quarter one, roughly R216m was spent on overtime… Projections for the entire year are that we would have spent about R1bn,” Dlabathi said at the time.
He said the metro, which has an operating budget of R60bn and a capital budget of R2.9bn for 2024/2025, was not in a financial crisis, “but we admit the city is financially constrained. The income we are generating is quite limited. We have not been collecting revenue according to the set norms and standards.”
On Tuesday, Dlabathi would not say how much the protest action had cost the municipality, which received a qualified audit report from the auditor-general (AG) for the 2023/24 financial year.
“I am unable to give figures at the moment. It was not really a loss from the city’s side, it was just a matter of resources being used for purposes they are not intended for,” he said.
“We have presented what could be possible options. It’s only fair that we allow further engagements to take place at the local labour forum, and we shall take it from there.”
Dlabathi would not be drawn on what options were on the table, saying only: “Some of the proposals are not financial in nature, they pertain to operational arrangements.”
According to the AG report, impaired material losses relating to traffic fines amounted to R2.6bn (R2.1bn in 2023) due to nonpayment of long outstanding traffic fines.
The report stated that material electricity losses of R2.7bn were incurred during the period under review, which represented 16% of total electricity purchased.
Technical losses amounted to R736,209,218 and were due to energy dissipation by the equipment and conductors in distribution lines. Non-technical losses amount to just over R2bn and were due to “unidentified, misallocated or inaccurate energy flows”.
In March 2024, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Ekurhuleni’s credit ratings further into junk status as a result of the municipality’s worsening financial situation.
In his state of the city address last week, Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza said the metro had facilitated an investment of R8bn from Teraco.
Teraco’s data centres are intended for various industries, including global internet companies, managed service providers, cloud providers, content providers, enterprises and financial services.
“Other major investments include Acsa’s midfield cargo terminal to the tune of R5.7bn; Nigel Steel Mill at R2.5bn, M&T at R2bn and the Gauteng IDZ at R1bn,” Xhakaza said.
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