Central SA
Free State municipality struggles with inflated salary bill─── LUCKY NKUYANE 10:46 Mon, 16 Oct 2023
“If there were to be any issues with the municipal salary bill we should be experiencing it in October or November, and not September.”
The Mohokare Local Municipality is one of the municipalities in the Free State which struggles with a huge salary bill.
The municipality with its headquarters in Zastron has been struggling to pay workers’ salaries. Mayor Zingiza Mgawuli said the salary bill for the whole year amounts to R94 million. The municipality also owes the national treasury R21 million. She said the municipality gets allocated R93 million by treasury for the financial year which is more than the administered fund.
She recently told OFM News payments were made to service providers because they had rendered services. Mgawuli blamed a low revenue collection of R1.5 million while they were billed R16 million monthly.
Zastron's mayor blamed the low revenue collection. Photo: OFM News
Irate workers of the municipality are up in arms demanding their salaries from the cash-strapped municipality.
A person in the upper echelon of the municipality, who requested to remain anonymous, said the municipality is prioritising service providers with close contact with politicians and officials. The person said the municipality received an equitable share of R28 million in July this year.
“The municipality in October 2023 approached a bank to ask for an overdraft to pay workers but the request was declined. The municipality was told that its financial standing is not in good condition. It also doesn't meet the requirements to make a loan. If I am not mistaken, over R11 million of the R28 million was paid to service providers. If there were to be any issues with the municipal salary bill we should be experiencing it in October or November, and not September.”
