Despite increasing pressure, Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink says the city won't implement a 5.4% salary increase for workers, which could cost the municipality R600-million.

The axing of more than 123 municipal workers involved in an illegal and unprotected strike by the cash-strapped City of Tshwane took centre stage during an ordinary council meeting on Tuesday, 12 September, despite not being on the agenda.

During the meeting, which had to be held virtually to avoid the chaos and violence of previous sittings, the council and Executive Mayor Cilliers Brink were at loggerheads over the handling of the ongoing strike and the bargaining council's order for the city to immediately honour a 2021 agreement and grant workers a 5.4% salary increase.

To honour the agreement, the city needs R600-million, which it has indicated it cannot afford as it is also battling to pay its creditors, including Eskom and Rand Water.

Following the South African Local Bargaining Council's (SALGBC) order on Monday, Brink immediately indicated there were grounds to appeal against the decision, a move which was heavily criticised by some councillors during Tuesday's meeting.

EFF's caucus leader and councillor, Obakeng Ramabodu, said: "We are saying as the EFF that they must not even start to review that decision. We are the executive authority as council. They must come to us and ask what must happen [going...