16 October 2026
EThekwini municipality workers picket outside Durban City Hall to demand their salaries be increased. Photo: Tsoanelo Sefoloko
About 100 eThekwini municipality general workers from different departments picketed outside Durban City Hall on Thursday. They were demanding that their salary grade be increased from category eight to ten. They also wanted to be paid performance bonuses and shift allowances, and called for the City manager to resign.
The protesters said they are not being represented by a union.
The workers displayed posters and sang. Sibusiso Sithole, employed by the water and sanitation department at the Ottawa depot, said he started working for the municipality in 2018. He said he was tired of earning less than his counterparts at other metros.
“Being on category eight while other metropolitan workers are on category ten is an insult. We are sick and tired of relying on the unions too,” said Sithole.
Another worker, Thanduxolo Mgobhozi, said he is unable to meet his expenses. He said he has to rely on loan sharks to make ends meet.
“I get paid on the 25th of every month but by the 27th I don’t have any money because of deductions like medical aid and funeral policies. We want the city to implement the category ten grade as they promised,” said Mgobhozi.
Worker representative Goodman Gwala said he has been liaising with the municipality on the workers’ behalf.
“We decided not to disrupt any services because we only want the City manager to listen to us so that we can table our grievances,” said Gwala.
The Municipal and Allied Trade Union of South Africa regional secretary Thokozani Maxego commented that the category ten salary grade was meant to be implemented around 2019, but the municipality had asked for extensions due to financial troubles.
In 2024, we reported on another mass protest by workers who said their wages did not match those of workers in other metros, such as Ekurhuleni and Tshwane. At the time, union SAMWU said a general worker in eThekwini earned about R10,000 a month while general workers in Tshwane and Ekurhuleni earned about R13,900.
Questions to the municipality were unanswered at the time of publication.