‘Bankrupt’ Great Kei Municipality cannot pay 200 employees

THE beleaguered Great Kei Municipality has failed to pay salaries of its close to 200 employees because it is bankrupt, according to the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu).

Municipal manager Mzimasi Mtalo confirmed the non-payment of salaries but said terming the municipality as bankrupt was too harsh.

The monthly salary bill, including payment of “third parties”, was estimated at R3-million, said Mtalo.

He said the municipality simply did not have that amount in its bank account. Mtalo was unable to divulge what the bank balance was.

Samwu said its members had had a bleak weekend stressing over nonpayment of their creditors, who were due to debit their bank accounts last Friday but found them empty.

This is in contrast to councillors of the municipality, including mayor Loyiso Tshetsha, who received their salaries on May 15 without incident.

In an internal memo sent to staff less than 24 hours before payday, the municipality claimed it could not pay its employees because it was unable to collect enough revenue to afford payment of salaries.

A Samwu shop steward at the municipality, Luthando Juju, said what the municipality was saying in simple terms was that it was bankrupt.

“We have encouraged our members, in particular those who have legal reps, to take legal action individually and for others we will declare a dispute in terms of Section 74 of BCEA (Basic Conditions of Employment Act) for damages to our members’ bank accounts,” charged Juju.

Mtalo could not say exactly when employees would be paid, but he was hopeful the municipality’s system, including financial management systems, would be restored this week, having been halted by an arson attack that wreaked havoc in the municipality’s building in Komga.

The union is having none of the excuses. “Councillors paid themselves on May 15. This means both management and councillors were aware that the municipality was not going to be able to pay salaries in 10 days’ time.”

Mtalo said the municipality had since appealed for assistance from the provincial department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) to ensure employees were paid by the end of this week.

“We had problems of billing, and because of that and the arson we were unable to track who owes what.” —