The Mpendle Local Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands has failed to pay full salaries and benefits to its workers this month.
The revelations have angered labour union federation Cosatu who said they hoped this situation will not occur in other municipalities. The Officer of the Auditor-General South Africa has recently raised concerns about the financial woes of some KZN municipalities.
A Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) official stated that in all his years with the department in KwaZulu-Natal, this was the first time he had ever heard of a municipality not paying workers’ wages and benefits in full.
In a statement, the Cogta department said: “Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs department MEC Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi has assigned senior officials to engage with the leadership of the Mpendle Local Municipality. This action follows reports indicating the municipality’s inability to fully compensate its employees.”
It said the department has received concerning information regarding the municipality’s financial standing, including:
- Partial salary payments to workers
- Failure to remit third-party deductions, such as UIF, pension fund contributions, and medical aid payments
The department said these actions have caused unnecessary hardship for the workers in the municipality, who now find themselves without their due compensation and benefits.
It said Cogta’s senior officials would meet with the municipality’s leadership to ascertain the root causes of the financial irregularities and the steps being taken to correct them, as well as to implement consequence management.
The department said the MEC remained committed to ensuring that all municipalities within the province adhere to their constitutional obligations and uphold principles of good governance and fiscal discipline.
The department said it will implement necessary mechanisms to ensure compliance and accountability.
Labour union federation Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said they had been made aware of the situation on Monday.
Cosatu KZN leader Edwin Mkhize said the situation was unacceptable and painted a picture of municipalities taking the workers’ well-being for granted. “Failure to pay the workers on the day they are supposed to be paid causes huge disruptions. It means the workers have fallen behind because all the debit orders that should be paid will not be processed; they will accumulate interest, and when the employer pays the salary, they will not pay the interest that the workers have accumulated.
“What we suspect is that municipalities are now using workers’ salaries to pay for other expenses, such as tenders, which suggests to us that the workers are not being prioritised. We hope this does not spread to other municipalities and that Cogta and Treasury hold this municipality accountable,” he added.
THE MERCURY
