Instead of solving the service delivery issues in Bloemfontein, the Mangaung Metro managed to put a spanner in the works and ensure that the residents will pay for it.
The planned implementation of a shift system for workers to ensure savings in overtime and better service delivery, backfired because management never consulted with workers before execution thereof at the beginning of July.
This resulted in members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) going to court. The Labour Court agreed that the Mangaung Metro had acted unlawfully by changing employment conditions unilaterally.
The court ordered that Samwu members’ working terms and conditions were to revert back to what it had been on 1 August.
With the onus now being on the metro to cover the legal costs of the application, residents will, in effect, have to pay for the court case.
The Mangaung Metro filed an application for leave of appeal on 10 September − effectively suspending the judgement until the appeal comes to court.
The decision to implement a shift system was aimed at curbing the enormous amount of overtime spend. Overtime overspending increased sharply over the last two financial years, with the 2024-’25 figure more than three times higher than the previous year. Overtime spend in 2024-’25 was an enormous R136 million.
Both the executive mayor, Gregory Nthatisi, and the municipal manager, Sello More, presented the shift system as the primary method for controlling overtime spend. However, they implemented it without consulting workers.
Hardie Viviers, DA councillor, says at a recent Section 80 Finance Committee meeting the DA learned that the metro’s July overtime spend was nearly triple its monthly budget.
“The DA supports the shift system, which was designed to allocate 12-hour shifts to metro employees,” he says.
Residents now risk paying double for services, once for excessive overtime and again for potential legal costs, if the Mangaung metro loses its appeal.
■ BloemNews reported on bloemnuus.co.za that More had warned workers that if an alternative for overtime could not be reached, it could lead to work losses.
He said that the metro could not continue to spend more thant R100 million per year on ineffective services.
