THE South African Municipal Workers Union in the Greater Tzaneen municipality has blamed a lack of service delivery in the area on the financial recovery plan introduced about three years ago.

THE South African Municipal Workers Union in the Greater Tzaneen municipality has blamed a lack of service delivery in the area on the financial recovery plan introduced about three years ago.

The plan was introduced by the municipality to rescue it from its deteriorating financial state.

Samwu secretary Kenneth Makhubele said the plan had put a further strain on the operational budget and in particular the monthly income against expenditure.

This had led to the reduction of workers' overtime payments by 50percent.

Demands

Makhubele felt the move had contributed to poor service delivery since workers were unwilling to work overtime and on weekends.

Makhubele said the issue was part of the workers' demands, which were submitted to the council earlier, and stressed that the issue might create problems if not taken seriously.

"So we insist that the council reviews the financial recovery plan to include inputs from the trade unions with a view to accommodating section 142 (1) of the Municipal Finance Management Act of 2003," he said.

The workers said while the recovery plan was meant to save money, the council had gone ahead to increase contractors' monthly payments by 200percent.

Contractors that had benefited from this include Betta Construction, Ingwe Waste Management, Molebogeng Cleaning Services and Rasebotsa Waste Management.

They also accused the municipality of spending R16000 a month on one Toyota Bakkie after the council signed a lease agreement with AMR Fleet management three years ago.

The workers said the municipality should give workers a fixed monthly travel allowance to avoid high expenditure.

Tzaneen municipal manager Mabakane Mangena could not be reached for comment.