The 1 April pay increase for South African Public Servants has officially been put on ice with the announcement that Minister for Finance, Tito Mboweni intends to push ahead with his plan to save some R160 billion ($A14.3 billion) in the public wage bill over three years.
One of the criticisms of South Africa’s fiscal management by rating agencies has been the inability of the State to rein in expenditure, with the growing public sector wage bill a key item highlighted.
However, the agencies say the main cause for concern is not necessarily the total number of public sector jobs, but rather that the rate of salary increases in the public sector has consistently outpaced that of the private sector.
In the immediate aftermath of the freeze, President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), Zingiswa Losi rejected any suggestion that the public wage bill was bloated, and accused the Mr Mboweni of being irresponsible.
General Secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union, Mugwena Maluleke (pictured) said the 1 April wage increase had long been agreed and should have been implemented.
“We are now going to go through the dispute resolution process,” Mr Mugwena said.
However, the unions appear prepared, for now, to follow through with the bargaining process to reach a resolution.
Asked whether there was a prospect of mass action during the lockdown for the Coronavirus outbreak, Mr Maluleke said that legally the process would be to continue with conciliation or arbitration.
Spokesperson for the Department of Public Service and Administration, Vukani Mbhele said the Department would continue to look for solutions.
“The Department is indeed seized with the matter and more importantly, recognises the need to handle everything with utmost sensitivity, respect and integrity,” Mr Mbhele said.
Pretoria, 3 April, 2020
