JOHANNESBURG – The Democratic Alliance has approached the High Court in Johannesburg over a R10.3billion wage deal reached by the City of Johannesburg and South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU).
Last week, the City announced that it had approved the wage deal and SAMWU said the adjusted budget would help address pay disparities and improve service delivery in the metro.
Now, in a dramatic turn of events, the DA wants the court’s intervention.
The DA has characterised the deal as the ANC coalition paying a political bribe to the unions and says it will cause the city to go bankrupt.
"That amount is more than an entire capital budget to build new infrastructure for the City of Johannesburg. Joburg is going to be bankrupt, and there won't be any jobs at all, and there is no chance of fixing the service delivery crisis, water and electricity in Joburg if this deal goes through and that is why we are stopping corruption and taking a stand against this," said the DA's Johannesburg mayoral candidate, Helen Zille.
“There is an attempt at an agreement between SAMWU and the ANC. R10,3 billion of Joburg's money, that amount is more than the capital budget. Joburg will be bankrupt.”
READ: Green light for SAMWU R10billion wage deal
Samwu has condemned the DA's move to challenge its wage deal with the City of Johannesburg.
SAMWU has hailed the wage deal as a major milestone, vowing to fight for its full implementation.
The union says it will resist what it calls misleading, negative publicity from the DA.
"We are so frustrated by this imperialist and anti-workers' of the DA. DA is part of the council. The budget has been approved in the council. They've been afforded an opportunity in the council," said SAMWU deputy regional secretary Richard Moiloa.