Samwu gets its R10bn wage deal after being accused of intimidating Joburg councillors

2026-03-20 - 14:10

Members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) have been accused of assaulting councillors at the City of Johannesburg, over a controversial R10.3 billion wage deal. On Friday, councillors at the council chambers in Braamfontein were meant to debate the proposed adjustment budget, including the controversial process to grant Samwu R10.3 billion to address salary disparities. Samwu members were spotted inside council chambers and were accused of intimidating opposition parties opposed to the wage deal. The EFF’s Mgcini Tshwaku, who is also the MMC of public safety, told the speaker of council, Margret Arnolds, that some of his caucus members had been assaulted by Samwu members. EFF blames Masuku for Samwu intimidation He said this happened because the deputy mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Loyiso Masuku, had told workers that the EFF, DA and ActionSA were to blame for their salary hikes not materialising. “We are not scared to fight. I am saying that the utterances of MMC Masuku led to the assault of councillor Thabisa [Mogapi], the utterances and misinformation of MMC Masuku have led to the assault of the EFF councillors. “Councillor Mogapi was assaulted. A woman was assaulted because of misinformation, because MMC Masuku lied publicly about the EFF. I am telling you now, let’s sort it out,” he said. The DA and ActionSA also expressed concern about the safety of their caucuses. Councillors’ safety questioned Meanwhile, Arnolds had to adjourn the council for a short time so the security threat could be dealt with. She also advised those that had been assaulted by Samwu members to open cases with the police. “I am a councillor like everyone else and my safety is also in jeopardy if you are not safe,” she said. This is the second time that this wage deal is being debated in council. It was previously rejected because it did not get enough support from all the political parties. On Friday, it was passed with 139 votes. ANC accused of promising Samwu sweet deal Last week the DA accused the ANC of lobbying their branches and Samwu to come and protest for the wage agreement when it is tabled in council. The party denied this. Sources have told The Citizen that the ANC had promised Samwu the wage deal in exchange for the union giving its support for the 2026 local government elections. Opposition parties had rejected the wage deal, describing it as a political agreement between the ANC and Samwu. The DA said the deal poses a financial risk to the City of Johannesburg and claimed there are no funds for it. The Citizen previously reported that Samwu and the municipality had agreed on the figure of R10.3 billion based on accumulated debt resulting from a 1995 halt to salary progression, as well as the gap between the pay packages of senior officials and employees on the ground. Masuku responds to allegations Meanwhile, Masuku told council that she had spoken to the leadership of Samwu about the intimidation of councillors. “If, as councillors, you are going to be attacked by employees of the city, we must be the ones that address it, and we must call it out,” she said. Masuku apologised to the councillors that had been attacked. “There wasn’t any malice intended. We are in a house of political debate, we are in a house of political speech and we must never allow people on the outside to use political speech and political debate as if it is an instigation against anybody. “We must be tolerant of conversations in the political space,” she said. At the same time, she said she was not pleased with how Tshwaku had blamed her and how he shouted at her when he raised his concerns. “It can’t be that in this chamber we address each other that way,” she said. Before the vote for this adjustment budget, Arnolds warned councillors not to intimidate each other.