COSATU has described the delayed salaries at Impendle Local Municipality in KZN as a serious crisis, calling on the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to intervene urgently and ensure workers are paid. The municipality is facing severe financial distress following its failure to pay employee salaries for January 2026. According to the Cogta, this is a repeated inability to meet financial obligations, as this follows a similar default in May 2025 and a narrowly averted crisis in December 2025. The department's assessment confirms a critical liquidity crisis. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) national spokesperson Zanele Sabela reacts.