The troubled Lichtenburg-based Ditsobotla municipality in North West is one of the municipalities that recently told its workers they will not receive salaries because the municipal bank accounts don’t have any funds. Ditsobotla mayor, Boitumelo Lethoko, revealed before the North West Legislature Standing Committee on Provincial Public Accounts that the municipality is at a total collapse of services and that it cannot even afford to buy toilet paper.

SAMWU national media officer, Papikie Mohale, says the Ngaka Modiri Molema District municipality has written to employees informing them that third party payments such as medical aid and pension and allowances such as standby and shifts camping will only be paid in the first week of June. He adds that municipalities have now made it fashionable to pay workers late, particularly in Ditsobotla, which notified workers about their delayed salary payments on the eve of payday. Mohale added that the failure of municipalities to pay salaries is a symbol of the financial strain municipalities in the country are facing. He says SAMWU has been calling for the review of the municipal funding model to ensure that municipalities deliver on their constitutional mandate.

“We are of the view that the current municipal funding model as it is, deliberately sets up municipalities for failure. We can however not only blame the funding model for the financial situation which municipalities find themselves in. When Ditsobola Local Municipality failed to pay employees in February, the union leadership held a meeting with the municipal management, only to be told that the municipality has not been billing clients since July 2022.”

“Municipalities therefore need to ensure that they put in place revenue collection mechanisms so they can supplement their finances to be able to meet their financial obligations, especially the payment of employees’ salaries. Additionally, the municipality has failed to fill key vacancies such as Section 56 and 57 managers, resulting in the institution not being able to optimally function,” he says.

Meanwhile, Trompsburg-based Kopanong local municipality in the Free State had initiated talks with provincial government to assist with its financial woes, since it is one of the municipalities that have not been able to pay its workers.

SAMWU has since called on the National Treasury to fast-track the allocation of the R56 billion that was announced by the Minister of Finance as an Eskom relief grant.

“We are of the view that this relief grant will assist many ailing municipalities to refocus some of the resources that they have to servicing other debts and, importantly, the payment of salaries for employees,” concludes Mohale.

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