The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) in the North West has issued a stern warning of an imminent strike at the Rustenburg Local Municipality if the municipality fails to upgrade workers’ salaries from grade 5 to grade 7, in line with a 2010 council resolution.
Tensions have reached a boiling point following a recent picket by municipal workers, which was met with legal action by the municipality to interdict the demonstration. SAMWU is now escalating the matter, having applied for a protected strike should the municipality continue to ignore their demands.
“We requested the employer to come and tell us when it is going to pay us grade 7 salaries. Instead of addressing the workers, they decided to go to court and interdict our picketing,” said Bushy Mafora, SAMWU shop steward at Rustenburg Local Municipality.
The union insists the municipality has had more than a decade to implement the 2010 council resolutions and can no longer delay the salary upgrades. The workers argue that they have been unfairly compensated for too long, despite fulfilling responsibilities aligned to a grade 7 salary bracket.
“Our next action is that we have applied for a protected strike, and the workers are ready to go for a full-blown strike,” Mafora added. “Secondly, we have written a letter to the employer and requested a meeting next week Thursday at 2 o’clock, so that management and the troika can come and tell the workers when they are going to pay them their grade 7 salaries.”
At the heart of the dispute is the municipality’s alleged failure to honour its own internal resolutions, which SAMWU believes undermines not only the workers’ rights but also the credibility of local government structures.
Attempts to get a response from the Rustenburg Local Municipality’s communications department were unsuccessful at the time of publication.
If the parties fail to reach an agreement at the proposed meeting next Thursday, Rustenburg could face widespread disruptions in municipal services, as workers vow to intensify their industrial action.
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Updated: July 2025
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