Thousands of Legal Aid SA employees have been left high and dry after their employer announced at the 11th hour that they would not receive their performance incentive bonuses. In a correspondence sent to the employees, CEO Mantiti Kola informed the workers that the bonus was not approved. “Kindly note that the board of Legal Aid SA did not approve the payment of the 2024/2025 FY performance incentive bonus (PIB) at their November 29 2025 meeting,” Kola said.
The performance bonuses were expected to be paid on or before December 12. A well-placed source said they had been receiving the bonuses every December and had already budgeted for it, when they were told on Monday that it was not coming this year. “It was never indicated that we will not get it till the 11th hour when the board was supposed to sign off the payment.
“You can imagine the debts people are in because they were expecting the money in December. “This will affect the courts, should we decide to go on strike,” the source said. Legal Aid employees have been carrying impossible caseloads, and keeping the service running under huge strain.
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It’s unacceptable. The source said the bonus was usually equivalent to about 95% of their salaries. Our performance is always above board even though we have a shortage of resources.
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