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Buses seen at a depot.
The North West provincial government has provided some lifeline to employees of the troubled North West Transport Investment (NTI).
The provincial Transport Management Department says it will pay them in 10 days.
Some employees spent the festive season camping outside the provincial legislature in Mahikeng.
The government says the issues at the entity are the result of the legal battles between them and the Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP), who was appointed to stabilise the situation at NTI.
As a result, some workers reportedly spent over six months without receiving their salaries.
MEC for Transport Management Wessels Morweng says they had withheld R46 million meant for the entity, owing to a breakdown of trust between the department and the BRP.
“There is a plight of workers who are suffering, while ourselves and the BRP are taking each other from pillar to post. That is why we have resolved that the EMC (Executive Management Committee) met, prior to this conference, it has resolved that, within ten days, we would have found other solutions that we can use for us to be able to disburse that R46 million. Ultimately, it must go to workers.”
VIDEO | Workers say they have not been able to provide for their families because of the non-payment of their salaries.
The general secretary of the South African Workers Union, Lebusa Mamaregane, says they will only fully welcome the announcement when payments have been made.
“We’ll only celebrate the day the money is in the accounts of the workers because this has been spoken about several times. This is a victory, not only for the South African Workers Union but a victory for the employees of NTI, who are suffering. Workers have been here from the 18th of December 2024, and until today, they are still here. This is a hard pill to swallow. It’s a situation where we know that workers have struggled.”
VIDEO | There have been calls for a probe into the allegations of mismanagement at NTI.
