Johannesburg - Employees of the Ditsobotla Local Municipality in the North West will not be receiving their monthly salaries after the municipality said that they will not receive their May salary. They were supposed to get paid on Thursday.
It is alleged that the struggling municipality also owes millions to medical aid schemes and pension funds. The municipality had been put under administration several times due to corruption and fraud.
In a statement, the municipality said, “This communication serves the purpose to inform the workers of the critical financial situation the municipality is facing.
“We regret to inform you that the municipality is unable to make payment of salaries for the month of May 2023 until further notice shall be issued on the date of payment.
“Workers are also notified that claims on overtime worked will be paid once the main salaries have been addressed. To that extent, workers are advised to make timeous arrangements with creditors.
“Commitment is herewith made that management is addressing this matter and putting systems in place to correct the financial situation going forth.”
The workers said the salary problems began last year and with high hopes that the matter would be fixed, to date nothing has been resolved.
The ANC in North West said they were disappointed by news that the employees would not be paid but assured that they would attend to the matter and resolve it as soon as possible.
The ANC Provincial Secretary, Louis Diremelo, told IOL that creditors who were also providing services were also not paid, “so we are trying so hard to speak to both the finance MEC and district municipality for intervention.“
He agreed that salary matters have been going on for far too long and it’s only because the municipality has been in a bad shape and functioning as expected.
“We are working on a strategy to take the municipality out of this state. The municipality is collapsing, we might want to do something drastic to ensure it survives,” he said.
Not certain as to when the matter will be resolved, Diremelo was hopeful that the matter should be resolved by month end and people get their salaries.
A month ago the municipality was in the headlines for allegedly paying fake employees with the identities of former municipal workers.
Ditsobotla municipality was accused of illegally using confidential records of former workers in the area to illegally pay salaries to certain individuals.
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