Joburg signs R10.3bn wage deal on eve of elections – and the next mayor is stuck with it - News24

The City of Johannesburg has signed the addendum to the so-called Political Facilitation Agreement (PFA), which seeks to put all the City’s employees on the same pay grade.

In a press briefing on Tuesday night, Mayor Dada Morero said the City signed the R10.3 billion agreement with the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), calling it a “watershed moment in the City’s governance history”.

This is the same agreement that came under scrutiny in April, when Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana wrote a scathing letter to Morero, which was later leaked to the press.

In the letter, Godongwana lambasted the City’s finances and forbade it from fulfilling its agreement with Samwu, which, when implemented, would result in the wages bill rising by R10.3 billion over the next two years.

In March, the DA sought to block the City’s adjusted budget and the payment of the first tranche of the R10.3 billion agreement, arguing that the deal was unfunded and breached the Municipal Finance Management Act.

But the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg struck the urgent interdict application off the roll for lack of urgency, ordering the DA to pay the respondents’ legal costs.

READ | ‘Are we on the right path? I think so’ - Dada Morero on Joburg crisis

Morero said the agreement would stand even though a new government is set to take office after Wednesday’s local government election, because it was a resolution voted on by the City council.

“Even if the administration changes, they (the new government) must honour this engagement or Samwu will have a standing to take it to court,” he said.

On Tuesday, Morero said the addendum included the implementation of a common key salary scale and the placement of affected Grade 8 employees at Grade 10 on the agreed salary scale.

The wage agreement is for R10.3 billion to be paid in tranches over two years.

The first tranche, for R1.2 billion, was agreed upon and included in the adjusted budget passed by the council in March.

Responding to queries by News24, Morero said the first R1.2 billion had already been paid to around 37 000 municipal employees.

The issue dates back to 1995, and the PFA came into being in 2016 after a five-month Pikitup strike with Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration-mediated settlement agreements signed on 9 and 14 April 2016.

Since then, the City’s administrations have not implemented the agreement because of a lack of funds.

While the City is classified on the pay scale as Grade 10, with its administration paid on the Grade 10 scale, the municipal employees have, up to now, been paid on a Grade 8 scale, according to Morero.

Morero said that over the years, several engagements and agreements sought to address the disparities, culminating in the November 2025 settlement agreement and the current addendum.

The addendum was negotiated and finalised through engagements, with advocate Terry Motau, SC, acting as facilitator and providing legal and professional assistance.

The Gauteng government also supported it, and as such, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Jacob Mamabolo was in attendance on Tuesday.

Mamabolo added that Premier Panyaza Lesufi, “and the government he leads, has a big interest in good governance and stability of the City”.

He said the municipal workers’ happiness and dignity ensured the City’s stability.

“This binds, and nobody can set it aside,” he said.

He added that if the new government tried to undo the agreement, “we won’t fold our arms. We will, within the confines of the law, engage the leadership.

“We would like to assure Samwu… that Premier Lesufi takes an interest [in the matter],” he said, adding that a party would have to show the court good cause for the PFA to be set aside, “and we doubt there will be good cause. We can’t continue to have the workers vary [in pay] – it’s not good governance.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with more information.

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