Impendle Municipality, which is one of the poorest municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, is worried by the National Treasury withholding equitable share grants from poor-performing municipalities Image: x.com
Impendle Municipality, which is one of the smallest rural municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, was on Thursday holding its breath, hoping discussions would persuade the National Treasurer to withdraw its decision to withhold equitable share grants from poor-performing municipalities.
The National Treasury revealed on Tuesday that it was temporarily withholding the July 2026 equitable share transfers to certain municipalities to instil fiscal discipline.
Treasury said this is to ensure that public money allocated to the municipalities is properly managed and these municipalities learn to address unauthorised, irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure (UIFWE).
Equitable shares are funds that the National Treasurer unconditionally transfers to provincial and local governments for administrative costs.
The financial status in Impendle, which is among municipalities identified by the National Treasury as financially ill-disciplined, reached a boiling point when it failed to pay staff salaries on time early this year.
Mayor Kho Dlamini stated that the municipality would not survive without equitable shares.
“This is affecting us badly, but there are currently discussions with the National Treasury, which we believe will lead to a certain agreement by 2 pm,” said Dlamini.
He said the grant was important to Impendle, which had scarce rate collection sources.
“Impendle Municipality is mainly grant-dependent,” said Dlamini.
In the statement, the Treasury stated that its decision was meant to hold municipal officials and office-bearers accountable.
“The decision follows persistent and serious non-compliance with the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and its supporting regulations, despite support provided by the National Treasury through guidance, engagement, and formal or informal communication,” read the statement.
Other municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, which are affected by the Treasury’s decision, are uMzinyathi, Amajuba, and uMkhanyakude districts, Newcastle, eMadlangeni, and AbaQulusi.
UMkhanyakude Mayor Siphile Mdaka said his municipality was included in the list through miscommunication between it and the Treasury.
“It is a matter that Treasury and us are dealing with (on Friday) in our meeting at 4 pm,” he said.
Mdaka said the municipality had provided reports to the Treasury that there is work in progress in terms of the issues that the municipality is addressing internally.
“But all issues that they (Treasury) have raised have been resolved.
“This is just a communication issue, which is why I am saying we are clarifying this with them tomorrow at 4 pm,” he said.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has called for urgent interventions for financially distressed municipalities, as the Treasury’s decision may worsen their situation.
The federation said, although it appreciates the need to install financial discipline in municipalities when it comes to their workers’ salaries and pension funds, Eskom, Water Boards, and other service providers, there would be unintended consequences for withholding the grant.
“Some of these municipalities are so financially cash-strapped that this action may cause some basic services to grind to a halt and leave many municipal workers unpaid once again,” said Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks.
Parks called for engagements between Treasury, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) “to put in place interventions to resolve these ever-worsening crises”.
Parks said the solution to mishandling municipality finances would be to appoint competent management and deal with corruption and wasteful expenditure through the intervention of the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit.
“It is key that these interventions do not lead to a further collapse of municipal services or see more workers sent home unpaid,” said Parks.
Woolworths has joined Checkers and Pick n Pay in launching an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered assistant on its on-demand delivery app.
Called ‘My Woolies Chef’, Woolworths’ AI tool will allow customers to ask questions, find meal ideas, plan dishes, and shop for ingredients more seamlessly.
My Woolies Chef will be available to a small group of existing MyDifference loyalty programme members from September 2026 as part of an ongoing beta testing phase. Woolworths intends to roll out the service more broadly in early 2027.
“Unlike general-purpose AI tools, My Woolies Chef is built specifically around the Woolworths food ecosystem,” the retailer said in a press release on 13 July.
“The assistant combines local recipe content, product information and shopping functionality to deliver recommendations that are relevant to the South African customer context and directly connected to the Woolworths shopping experience.”
My Woolies Chef will use generative and conversational AI to interpret customers’ questions and return relevant suggestions.
The AI tool has been trained on thousands of Woolworths TASTE recipes and, unlike a traditional search function, it is designed to understand the context behind a request.
“The system has been trained to interpret natural language prompts related to meal planning, cooking preferences, and household needs,” the retailer explained.
This allows customers to interact with the platform in a more intuitive and conversational way.
“Conversational AI allows customers to engage with Woolworths’ food content and digital shopping experience in a more intuitive way,” Woolworths’ group data and AI officer, Jose Rodrigues, said.
“Instead of navigating multiple searches, they can describe what they need in everyday language and receive suggestions that are relevant to the context of their request.”
“Our focus is on developing the technology responsibly, testing it through a phased rollout and improving the experience through customer feedback.”
South African retailers go all-in on AI
The announcement of My Woolies Chef comes shortly after Pick n Pay and Checkers have launched their own versions of an AI-powered chatbot integrated into their on-demand delivery apps.
Checkers was first to the punch, announcing its AI-powered shopping assistant, named ‘Pixie’, on its Sixty60 delivery platform in April 2026.
Described as a “trusted personal butler with a PhD in shopping”, Checkers’ tool learns from customers’ buying habits and generates personalised grocery baskets and product recommendations.
Pick n Pay responded to Checkers’ move in early July 2026, introducing ‘Penny’, an AI-powered, multimodal shopping assistant on its asap! platform.
Penny can assist asap! users with building shopping baskets, answering questions, and helping with “smart shopping”.
With Woolworths, Pick n Pay, and Checkers now having announced their AI-powered upgrades to their delivery platforms, it is becoming clear that the new retail battleground has shifted to convenience shopping.
All of South Africa’s major retailers have been investing heavily in their on-demand delivery platforms over the past few years, looking to capture more market share through these convenience options.
Currently, Checkers’ Sixty60 platform is the clear market leader and was the first to launch major upgrades that the other market players soon followed.
As South African shoppers increasingly prioritise convenience and the online shopping experience, retailers will need to differentiate themselves through their on-demand platforms.
COSATU said the UIF system has completely collapsed.
Job hunting and unemployment. Picture: Pixabay
Business and labour unions have raised the alarm that the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) system has collapsed and are demanding direct intervention from the Presidency.
Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) formally withdrew its representatives from all UIF structures and the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC), citing years of unaddressed maladministration.
He explained that while the fund’s mandate is to provide financial relief to unemployed workers, those on maternity or parental leave, or those injured or deceased on the job, the system is plagued by inefficiencies, corruption, and a lack of transparency.
“When employees register the workers, they struggle with the IT systems. When workers try to apply, they also struggle.
“You go to all the labour centres across the country, and you’ll find queues stretching hundreds of people long. Workers might have to wait three or four days to be assisted.
“The systems are frequently offline. And workers can wait weeks, months, and even years to receive their UIF benefits.”
He added that there have also been cases where officials have submitted fraudulent claims and pocketed the money themselves.
“There is a real crisis, and workers have the right to be irritated and angry because it’s indeed their money and it’s there to assist workers in the moment of need.”
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Cosatu has presented a crucial submission to the USTR, highlighting the urgent issue of forced labour and its implications for workers in South Africa and beyond. This article explores the challenges and strides made in combating this modern-day slavery. Image: File.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) presented its submission on the burning and often neglected issue of forced labour to the United States’ Trade Representative (USTR) this past week.
Whilst we differ sharply with the USTR’s approach to this existential matter for millions of workers, it is an issue of great importance for the working class, particularly in the developing world, including South Africa.
Ending slavery and forced labour were among the rallying calls for the formation of trade unions across the world from industrialised to developing nations.
As society has evolved slavery was criminalised and labour rights improved, however we still witness frequent abuses, including forced labour and more recently we have seen a growth in human trafficking linked to these. South Africa despite its advances and progressive labour laws has not been immune from these horrors.
Drafting Cosatu’s submission on the progress we have made as a nation since the advent of democracy in 1994 under successive African National Congress led administrations was a moment of great pride.
We can be proud that our progressive Constitution, labour and other laws deal firmly with slavery, forced labour and human trafficking. In no small part these are products of decades of workers’ struggles, particularly led by Cosatu.
Whilst we have made great strides tackling the scourge of forced labour and trafficking, we must be honest and acknowledge our real gaps, particularly with regards to enforcement and holding transgressors accountable, and to keep pace with often very sophisticated global human trafficking syndicates.
21 million persons across the world are estimated to be in some form of forced labour with alarming numbers for child labour. For those affected, labour rights and protections are a faint hope, in particular for women trafficked for sexual exploitation.
We have seen a deeply worrying increase in South Africans trafficked abroad under the pretense of lucrative jobs into forced labour and crime syndicates as far away as Myanmar.
One of the points raised by the USTR is that forced labour threatens the competitiveness of US companies.
It equally challenges the very survival of South African companies who correctly embrace compliance with our labour and other laws.
Slavery, forced labour and human trafficking are some of the worst abominations facing humanity, something that should never be tolerated. The challenge facing South Africa as Vladimir Lenin challenged, is what is to be done?
First is the tightening of our legislation to protect workers, in particular our trade and customs laws to empower the Minister for Trade, Industry and Competition to impose bans and tariffs on companies and imports from businesses involved in any form of forced labour.
Second is to invest further in the capacity of the Department of Employment and Labour, in particular its inspectors to ensure all workplaces, particularly in high-risk sectors, comply with our laws at all times.
Over the past year we have seen a welcome increase in the number of workplace inspections and the prosecution and conviction of offending employers, including substantial prison sentences for some Chinese employers involved in forced labour.
The South African Revenue Service has done well to improve tax compliance, however customs enforcement remains one of its major challenges and weaknesses. Further investments in its capacity through filling frontline vacancies, strengthening IT systems and deploying scanning machines are key to tackling fraud and illegal imports.
Similar resourcing is desperately needed for the Border Management Authority, hamstrung by a devastating 75% vacancy rate and the South African National Defence Force which are tasked with securing over 72 points of entry, 5244 kms of land borders and 2798 kms of coastlines.
There is a need for a common international approach to this burning matter. A piecemeal approach will not be sufficient. One nation cracking down on it will often simply see such practices displaced to less equipped countries.
There is a need for the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to lead this struggle by establishing a global database of workplaces and countries found to be guilty of such forced labour activities.
This is key to avoid this progressive cause being exploited for narrow domestic protectionist calls or being weaponised to victimise countries for geo-political grudges.
It is important that the ILO craft a common global stance on forced prison labour and exports linked to this practise. Whilst South Africa has correctly criminalised this practise, many leading industrial countries, including some of our largest trading partners, have not and in fact actively use such forced prison labour.
Strengthening legislation, improving capacity to enforce them and cracking down on workplaces and imports involved in forced labour will send a clear message to such employers that this behaviour will not be tolerated.
Whilst we are proud of how far we have come as a country, we are pained as Cosatu that so many workers, and in particular women and children, are subjected to the crimes of forced labour in South Africa and across the world.
It is incumbent upon us as Cosatu to provide meaningful and practical solidarity for workers less fortunate than us, in particular in countries such as Myanmar and Sudan where such abuses are tragically all too frequent, or even in sweatshops closer to home in Lesotho.
Cosatu will soon be holding its national congress, the workers’ parliament. Tackling this scourge of modern-day slavery will be one of the issues to be fleshed out.
It will be key that we emerge from congress with a bold and decisive campaign for Cosatu to lead this struggle at our workplaces with inspection raids, in strengthening our legislation through Nedlac and Parliament, in cracking down on imports built through forced labour and by leading negotiations in our international forums, in particular the ILO.
Solidarity is about giving hope to the most downtrodden and exploited, be it in South Africa or elsewhere. Workers should not be expected to tolerate such abhorrent crimes in this day and age. Cosatu is determined to ensure that such violations become a thing of the past.
Zingiswa Losi is the president of Cosatu.
Zingiswa Losi is the president of Cosatu. Image: Independent Newspapers
South African labour unions have sounded the alarm over an R8.3bn unpaid pension crisis affecting 590,000 workers. Image: File
Labour unions are sounding the alarm over the growing number of companies that are failing to pay over pension contributions to pension funds, leaving workers destitute at the end of their working lives.
The Public Servants Association (PSA) has revealed that more than R8 billion in pension contributions have not been paid over to pension funds by employers, despite those being deducted from employees.
Labour unions stated that workers have very little recourse when they discover that the company has not been paying over their pension.
Economists say this is a major concern and could be damaging to workers’ lives after retirement, pointing out that many workers cannot retire comfortably as it is, even if they receive their full pension.
In a statement, the PSA said it is shocked and outraged following reports that thousands of employers across South Africa have failed to pay over employees’ pension contributions, with arrear contributions amounting to an alarming R8.3 billion.
“The PSA regards this as a gross betrayal of workers’ trust and a direct attack on the financial security and dignity of employees who work with the legitimate expectation that deductions from their salaries will be paid over to their respective pension funds. Instead, many workers face uncertainty regarding their retirement savings because of the unlawful and unethical conduct of employers.
“This situation is nothing short of a national disgrace. Pension contributions are not optional payments; they are deferred earnings belonging to employees. Any employer who deducts these contributions but fails to pay them over is effectively depriving workers of hard-earned retirement savings.
“The PSA is extremely concerned that many employees only become aware of these outstanding contributions when they resign, retire, or lodge benefit claims, by which time the financial prejudice may already be substantial,” said the union.
The PSA said such conduct undermines confidence in South Africa’s retirement system and places countless families at risk of financial hardship. “The PSA calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa and the government to take decisive and immediate action against employers who fail to comply with their legal obligations.
“The current situation cannot be allowed to continue unchecked. The PSA specifically calls for the imposition of severe financial penalties on employers who fail to pay pension contributions, criminal prosecution of employers who unlawfully withhold or misappropriate employees’ pension contributions, strengthened enforcement and regular compliance inspections by the relevant regulatory authorities, publication of names of defaulting employers to promote transparency and accountability, and urgent measures to ensure that all outstanding pension contributions, together with applicable interest, are recovered and paid into affected employees’ retirement funds without delay,” it stated.
It added that workers should not be forced to pay the price for employers who disregard the law and exploit employees’ trust. “The PSA will continue to advocate for stronger protection of workers’ retirement benefits and will support every effort to ensure that employers who violate their legal obligations are held fully accountable. Retirement savings represent the future security of millions of South Africans and must never be treated as a source of cash flow for irresponsible employers.”
Edwin Mkhize of Cosatu in KwaZulu-Natal said the matter was serious and there are very limited options as recourse for workers.
“Such recourse, which includes opening a criminal case against a particular company, can take a very long time.
“This is a matter of corruption and should be treated as such. We have found many conmen that are doing this; it’s not just small companies; there are big companies doing this and even municipalities,” said Mkhize.
He said part of the solution being explored by Cosatu is to have workers’ interests represented on the board of trustees for these pension funds in order to catch the problem before it snowballs. “We cannot be reactive; we need to be proactive in addressing the issue.”
He added that Cosatu has done a lot of work in addressing the problem, including engaging with the authorities to name and shame the companies that are in breach.
Economist Dawie Roodt described this as a serious problem. “Quite often, people are not really concerned about this (pension contributions) because they trust their employers to do the payment, and people just don’t check them.
“My advice to people is that they make sure that the money is paid over because when it comes to retirement and the money is not there, you have serious issues because the majority of South Africans cannot retire independently as it is, and unfortunately, some of the biggest culprits here are state-owned enterprises and especially the municipalities,” he said.
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