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The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and unions have secured a multi-year salary and wage deal that will see employees in the sector receive a 3.5% increase over the next three years.

SALGA, the employer body that represents the country’s 257 municipalities, in a statement said the parties reached the agreement at the SA Bargaining Council after a lengthy stalemate.

The association has been in salary and wage negotiations with the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) and Independent Municipal & Allied Trade Union (IMATU) since March 2021.

“The salary and wage negotiations have now concluded and an agreement covering three financial years, from 2021 – 2024, was voted unanimously, which has a package of salary based and associated measures.

“Foremost in the package is a multi-year wage deal, pension fund reforms, a financial relief mechanism for municipalities in financial distress and for the terms of the agreement to be revisited should unforeseen negative economic circumstances arise in future during the period of the agreement,” said SALGA.

The collective agreement, in respect of this current financial year, stipulates that all municipal employees shall receive an increase of 3.5%, with effect from 1 July 2021, a period in which the remuneration of municipal employees is adjusted every year.

Municipal workers will also receive a once-off non-pensionable cash allowance. In this regard, employees earning a basic salary of R 12 500 or less as at 1 July 2021, would receive an amount of R4 000. Their colleagues, who earn a basic salary of over R 12 501 as at 1 July 2021, would receive R3 000.

SALGA said the while the salary increase of 3.5% was effective from 1 July 2021, the effect of the cash allowance becomes operational at a later stage.

“To mitigate the impact of paying these cash allowances, the agreement envisages an extended timeframe within which municipalities can make adjustments to their current budget in order to fulfil this obligation, unless they have applied for exemptions.

“A further provision in the agreement is that inflation-linked increases in the outer years of this agreement will be based on the inflation outlook and projections made by the South African Reserve Bank.”

The association said the new collective agreement represents a win-win outcome for the negotiating parties and “gives municipalities who are in financial distress a lifeline and a breathing room”.

It said the agreement also imposes a zero-rated increase in some benefits, such as homeowner’s allowance and medical aid.

The work on the pension restructuring will commence, which will see several reforms.

SALGA said reaching the deal was no easy feat, as negotiators in the bargaining council deadlocked several times leading to a conciliator being brought in after a facilitator’s proposal in August 2021 also failed to conclude the negotiations.

“The municipal wage talks took place in the backdrop of a severe financial economic distress environment imposed by the devastating global COVID-19 pandemic, and SALGA approached the negotiations [in a manner that will] sustain the financial sustainability of municipalities, while balancing the interest of the labour to ensure peace and stability, as well as in ensuring the continuation of service delivery.

“The collective agreement means that the sector will be stable in that there will be no need for year-on-year wage negotiations. The multi-year collective agreement will enable municipalities to budget without uncertainty in the medium-term budgeting process.

“Local government attention can now focus on service delivery and preparing the transition towards the 5th Term Democratic and People-Centred Local Government without interruptions,” SALGA said.

It acknowledged the country’s municipalities for having provided strategic direction and meaningful support that has assisted the wage negotiations to conclude. It thanked labour parties for contributing to this process, and the SA Bargaining Council for providing a conducive environment for the wage talks.

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) has arrested a member of the South Africa National Defence Force (SANDF) for his involvement in cross-border crimes in the Northern Cape.

The 30-year-old suspect is expected to appear in the Musina Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, following his arrest on Wednesday in the Northern Cape.

This brings the total number of SANDF members arrested in relation to cross-border crimes under the project dubbed ‘Night Vigil’ to eight.

The first seven suspects, which included two Lance Corporals and five Privates, were arrested in the Free State, Northern Cape and North West provinces on 21 June 2021 during a sting operation between the Hawks, National Intervention Unit and SANDF members.

The accused were deployed at the Beitbridge border post to defend and protect the territorial integrity of South Africa between 2017 and 2019.

It is alleged that during their deployment period, they plotted with syndicates to smuggle stolen vehicles through the Limpopo river in exchange for money.

It is further alleged that the suspects would demand R15 000 per vehicle that would be shared among themselves.

The other seven accused are out on R3 000 bail each and they will appear in court again on 25 October 2021.

Gauteng Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela, has welcomed the 25-year sentence imposed on a father who killed his three-year-old daughter.

The sentence was handed down at the Gauteng South High Court on Wednesday.

In a statement, Gauteng SAPS spokesperson, Captain Mavela Masondo, said: “On 24 January 2017, the deceased, Siphesihle Ndlovu, was left by her grandmother with her father Musi Hlatshwayo to be taken to preschool.

“The father, aged 24, then killed his daughter and decapitated her. He threw the head into a stream and put the body on a tree branch in Vosloorus.”

Masondo said a missing child was reported with the police. A search was launched and the body was recovered after five days in an open veld.

The police traced and arrested the father.

Mawela congratulated the detective in the case for the hard work and thorough investigation that led to the successful conviction of the accused.

“The fight against crime committed against women and children remains on top of the Gauteng Police’s list of priorities. We are pleased with this successful conviction and believe it will send a strong message to those who abuse children,” he said.

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, has urged South African aged 18 and above to visit the country’s 23 146 voting stations at the weekend to register to vote at the 1 November municipal elections.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) will at the weekend hold voter registration between 8am and 5pm. Prospective voters can also use the opportunity to verify their voter registration details, she said.

Speaking in her capacity as chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Local Government Elections, the Minister made the call in a statement on Tuesday.

On 3 September, the Constitutional Court dismissed an IEC application for the postponement of the elections, ruling that the polls should take place as per the legal timeframes.

The IEC in May appointed former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke to lead the process of evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on conditions conducive for free and fair Local Government Elections on 27 October 2021.

In his report, Moseneke found that holding the elections within the Constitutionally mandated 90 day period was “not reasonably possible” as they were  unlikely to be held in a free and fair manner. He recommended that the elections be held no later than February next year.

Subsequently, after consultation with the IEC, Dlamini-Zuma, last week determined that elections will take place on 01 November 2021.

“The IEC has thus determined that a physical registration weekend is required ahead of the election,” the Ministry said in a statement.

It said: “Following the voter registration weekend, on September 20, 2021, the Minister will proclaim November 1st as the date of the 2021 Local Government Elections, as required by the law which stipulates that elections must be held within 90 days of the end of a five-year term of local government.

“The Minister encourages all eligible South Africans, particularly youth and first-time voters, to participate as active citizens and supporters of democracy by registering to vote in the upcoming 2021 Local Elections.”

The Ministry said this was a constitutionally guaranteed opportunity for citizens to elect members of municipal councils in their respective wards to represent their voices in local governance for the next five years.

“We all have a civic duty of registering to vote for the local government elections. Our vote in local elections is significant because it renews the mandate of local government and keeps the flame of democracy burning brightly as we continue to strive for a better tomorrow and a brighter future for all citizens of our democratic country,” the Ministry said.

Dlamini-Zuma said: “As we prepare to go out to various voting stations, let us remember that COVID-19 is still a part of us, despite the sustained decline in infections across the country over the last few weeks.

“We should still adhere to all protocols so that we can protect ourselves, loved ones and communities. Let us remember to wear a mask at all times, social distance, wash hands with soap and water or an alcohol based hand sanitizer.”

In conjunction with health and disaster management agencies, the IEC performed a detailed review to ensure that mitigating measures are in place to ensure that elections can be held safely. The IEC also drew heavily on the experiences of over a hundred countries and territories around the world that have successfully held elections under COVID-19.

She said it was important to acknowledge the “unparalleled circumstances” this year’s elections will be held under due to COVID-19 with the only solution being vaccination.

“We welcome the fact that over a quarter of all adult South Africans have received at least one vaccine dose and more than 7 million people are fully vaccinated, however we need to do more.

“We urge people to vaccinate in an effort to defeat COVID-19 in order for us to go back to our normal lives, as the chance of new and more dangerous variants emerging is far greater if more people are still not vaccinated,” said the Minister.

The Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation unit has arrested a 36-year-old suspect in Gauteng following the August 2020 data breach at Experian.

In a statement, the Hawks on Wednesday said Experian entered into a contract with the suspect, who purported to be a certain Tebogo Mogashoa, a director of Talis Holdings.

“The agreement gave the person access to the personal information of millions of people, held by the Credit Bureau.  The suspect then proceeded to download approximately 23 million personal data records and 727 000 business records.

“The suspect then attempted to sell these records at about R4.2 million,” said Hawks spokesperson, Colonel Katlego Mogale.

Subsequent to his arrest, the suspect was expected to appear today at the Palm Ridge court on charges of fraud and the contravention of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act.

An Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Department (EMPD) officer has been handed a six year prison sentence for corruption.

In a statement, Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (Hawks) Gauteng spokesperson, Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu, said the gavel fell on Constable Mazulwandile Wilson Makaula, 49, on Friday at the Vosloorus Magistrates’ court.

Mulamu said: “In May 2018, Makaula was on duty when he intercepted a motorist in Vosloorus during a random stop and search.

“After searching the vehicle, Makaula demanded R300 from the driver threatening, to impound the vehicle without valid reasons. The driver gave Makaula R150 in cash for his vehicle not to be impounded.”

On the same day, she said Makaula further demanded the outstanding balance of R150 from the motorist to release the vehicle. The matter was immediately reported to the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation in Germiston for further investigation.

“A sting operation was conducted at a shopping complex in Vosloorus where Makaula was arrested in possession of the R150-00 entrapment cash. He was found guilty of corruption in June this year.

The court also declared Makaula unfit to possess a firearm.

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has appealed to employers to resolve errors on the COVID-19 TERS portal to enable it to finalise outstanding claims.

The UIF said it has done all it needed to and the onus is now on the claimants if they qualify.

In a statement on Wednesday, the UIF said the claims cannot be finalised until certain corrections are effected, which can only be done by the applicants as they currently appear as outstanding COVID-19 TERS payments.

 Since the inception of the relief scheme in March 2020, the UIF has successfully made multiple payments totalling R63 billion in 14 292 888 payments to employees from 786 972 applications received from employers.

Acting UIF Commissioner, Advocate Mzie Yawa, said the fund aims to rapidly decrease the number of outstanding claims and ultimately close them by the end of December 2021, as they cannot remain open indefinitely.

Yawa said the COVID-19 TERS portal provides self-explanatory error messages, where a claim has been unsuccessful. It further gives advice to the applicant on action they need to take to resolve an error.

“We have observed that most COVID-19 TERS payments are unsuccessful due to employers or their representatives failing to follow the application procedures correctly. The application platform provides error messages and guides employers on what they need to do to correct mistakes,” Yawa said.

 The acting commissioner said partners at NEDLAC, labour and business have been requested to encourage their constituencies to attend to and correct these errors on the COVID-19 TERS portal.

“We appreciate efforts by among others SACTWU and NUMSA, who heeded our plea to talk to their employers, which has helped to have most of their issues resolved. We urge all unions and employers, whose members/workers have not been paid, to correct the errors or causes of non-payment, as they appear on our portal, and resubmit corrected applications so payments can be finalised. Failure to do this within a month from now, may result in the application considered closed,” Yawa said.

The UIF said the quantum of outstanding payments is a major concern for both NEDLAC partners and UIF.

As a result, a project team has been formed to find solutions for the most common errors relating to specific UIF process of compliance or audit/risk issue.

The most common errors that the team will be focusing on fall within the following broad categories: Declarations, Incorrect banking details, Incorrect income, invalid Identity and Passport numbers.

The project will involve reaching out to employers through various communication mechanisms, improved customer interface on COVID-19 TERS portal, and vigorous compliance drive.

With regards to Workers Affected By Unrest (WABU) relief scheme, the UIF said, like other bodies in same space, they are still verifying the applications.

To date, 255 applications have been received since the opening for applications towards the end of August 2021. Payments are set to be made as soon as these pass the verification process.

“We believe everyone should appreciate that efforts must be taken to curb the TERS fraud we encountered.  It is, therefore, necessary for us to take extra precaution when we process claims for WABU to prevent fraudulent such from recurring”, Yawa said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and a group of global health leaders on Tuesday issued an urgent call for vaccine equity globally, particularly in Africa.

“The leaders stressed that the worst pandemic in the last hundred years will not end unless and until, there is genuine global cooperation on vaccine supply and access,” the statement read.

They also reiterated the WHO’s global vaccination target for 70% of the population of all countries to be vaccinated by mid-2022.

WHO’s Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said more than 5.7 billion doses have been given globally, but only 2% of those have been administered in Africa.

“This doesn’t only hurt the people of Africa, it hurts all of us,” he lamented.

“The longer vaccine inequity persists, the more the virus will keep circulating and changing, the longer the social and economic disruption will continue, and the higher the chances that more variants will emerge that render vaccines less effective.”

Ghebreyesus believes that vaccine sharing is good but the world should not have to be relying on vaccine sharing when structures can be put in place for other countries to buy the much-needed jabs.

“American taxpayers, European taxpayers, they financed some of this intellectual property and it should be for the common good. So, it is not wrong that we say there should be waivers, it was for the common good. So, we ask for this intellectual property to be made available.

“It was a great miracle to have these vaccines, now let this miracle be available to all mankind.”

In addition, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Dr Vera Songwe, told the delegates it costs the continent $29 billion of production for every month of lockdowns.

“For [the African continent], when we say that COVID-19 is an economic issue and we need to respond to it, to be able to recover and reset our economies, it is real.”

WHO Regional Director, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said the continuous challenge is that global supplies are not being shared in ways that will get the world out of this pandemic.

“Hundreds of WHO staff are on the ground, ready to support countries to expand vaccination sites and to manage the complexities of small deliveries of a variety of vaccines,” she said, adding that African nations have successfully done it before by implementing massive vaccination campaigns against polio, yellow fever and cholera.

The agency stated that almost 90% of high-income countries have now reached the 10% target, and more than 70% have reached the 40% target.

Meanwhile, not a single low-income country has reached either target.

Globally, 5.5 billion vaccine doses have been administered, of which 80% have been distributed in high- and upper-middle-income countries.

“High-income countries have now administered almost 100 doses for every 100 people. Meanwhile, low-income countries have only been able to administer 1.5 doses for every 100 people, due to lack of supply.”

Safe and effective vaccines alone cannot solve the pandemic, the WHO explained.

“Robust surveillance supported by rapid diagnostics, early clinical care and lifesaving therapeutics, provided by well-trained health workers who can work in safe conditions. Public health and social measures are also vital to end the pandemic and accelerate global recovery.” –

Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant-General Semakaleng Manamela, has welcomed the hefty sentence handed down to Sbusiso Nkosi.

The 36-year-old Nkosi was sentenced to two life imprisonment terms for the murder and rape of 23-year-old Nomcebo Simelane.

The Mpumalanga High Court sitting at Breyten on Monday sentenced Nkosi after his guilty plea following overwhelming evidence brought forward by the state against him.

The court heard that on 05 September 2020, a friend of Nkosi requested him to give a lift to Simelane from a liquor outlet in Breyten as it was late for her to travel alone at night.

“Instead of taking her home, he took a different route to a secluded area near the R36 Road. He then raped her and strangled her to death inside his vehicle. Nkosi then dumped her lifeless body in an open field and fled the scene.

“The following day, he realised that her cell phone was inside his car and threw it into a sewage pipe in an attempt to ensure that no one would ever find out the truth,” Police spokesperson, Colonel Donald Mdhluli said.

Simelane was then reported missing after her family could not locate her and her lifeless body was then discovered next to the R36 Road on 06 September 2020.

Lieutenant General Manamela has also praised the investigation team, the Prosecution as well as the Judiciary for the sterling work done in this case which culminated into a well-deserved sentence.

“The sentence will hopefully serve as a deterrence to those who think that women do not deserve to live and be treated as human beings but rather suffer at their hands,” Manamela said.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is expected to institute civil proceedings in the Special Tribunal against construction company, Aventine CC, to recover financial losses suffered by the State after the unit concluded an investigation into a temporary housing construction tender awarded to the company by the Limpopo Provincial Government.

It is also seeking to have the R15.3 million tender set aside.

The tender was for the construction of 192 temporary housing units – known as Talana Shacks – at densely populated informal settlement in Tzaneen and Burgersfort, during the national state of disaster last year.

Through the Housing Development Agency (HDA), Limpopo’s Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA) department appointed the construction company to build the 192 units, 152 pit toilets and install water tanks.

The tender was referred to the SIU for investigation by Limpopo Premier Stanley Mathabatha.

“The SIU investigation has revealed that the tender was fraudulently obtained. The appointed service provider, Aventine Group CC, made misrepresentations and forged documents of industry experts with no links to the company to influence the direction of the bid,” the law enforcement agency said in a statement.

The SIU said the company completed only 40 temporary housing units in Tzaneen.

“The service provider [then]… submitted two invoices totalling over R2.5 million, which were paid between April and October 2020. In Burgersfort… no structure was completed. The SIU has referred evidence pointing to criminal action against the director of the Aventine, Constance Mohlala, to the National Prosecuting Authority for further action,” the statement said.

According to the law enforcement agency, Mohlala has since been arrested by the Hawks in December 2020 and is “facing criminal charges for submitting fraudulent documents to influence the direction of a tender”.

“Furthermore, the SIU made a referral to the HDA recommending that the service provider be restricted from doing business with government. The matter has been escalated by the HDA to National Treasury for consideration,” the SIU said.