City processes payment for striking bus drivers

EThekwini Municipality has begun processing payments into the verified bank accounts of Tansnat employees, after the company failed to pay them their December salaries and bonuses.

s of Tuesday, 5 January 2016,  about 238 Tansnat employees had been paid directly by the City. The remaining employees will be paid once the verification process has been finalised.

The money used to pay salaries and bonuses will be recovered from Tansnat, the company tasked with running the City’s bus service while the City continues with the process of forming a Municipal Entity for the running of the service.

Last week, the Municipality intervened to prevent a strike by the bus drivers and resolved to pay employees, excluding management, directly.
However, while the City was in the process of verifying employees’ names and bank accounts, angry bus drivers blocked major access routes into the city and parts of the city centre. eThekwini Mayor, James Nxumalo strongly condemned these actions and appealed to the driver to remain calm while the salaries and bonuses were being processed.

Nxumalo said the City was concerned about the negative impact the non-payment of salaries and bonuses had on the employees and commuters who rely on the bus service.
“Some employees have received their salaries and bonuses and we are confident that the bus service will resume as soon as the verification process is finalised and payment delays have been resolved fully,” he said.

The Municipality will communicate all updated information about the bus strike through all media platforms. We will inform commuters once the bus service is fully restored.