Bust council can’t pay
NO SALARIES: THREE MONTHS LATER, WORKERS TURN TO LOAN SHARKS
We are negotiating, says mayor as medical aids, pensions are not paid.
With bills piling up and no money to buy food for their families, employees at the Kopanong municipality are at the mercy of loan sharks after going almost three months without pay.
The last time Free State’s Kopanong paid out salaries to workers and councillors was on 6 December 2023.
Residents are not getting basic municipal services such as water, while the debt to service providers, bulk water suppliers and Eskom runs into hundreds of millions of rands.
Trompsburg-headquartered Kopanong also owes money to the SA Revenue Service (Sars), pension funds and medical aid schemes, even though it deducts those premiums from workers’ salaries.
The municipality is led by ANC mayor Xolani Tseletsele, who made headlines last year when he was captured on video allegedly threatening resident Kalebe Kalebe.
Things got worse when the pension fund attached the municipality’s bank account last year, as it owes more than R60 million in unpaid premiums and interest.
The council offered an upfront payment of R2 million and tried to negotiate payment terms, but the fund demanded R19 million, according to the Democratic Alliance (DA) caucus.
Employee Nongasi Dortjie said she depended on relatives and friends. “I am struggling. I borrow money to try to pay overdue accounts and funeral policies. For food and electricity, I borrow from loan sharks.
“The high interest on the loans means I will never be able to free myself from them.
“I am stressed, I feel ill all the time. We are drowning because of Kopanong,” Dortjie said.
Another employee, Palesa Modise, said she ended up delivering her baby at a public hospital after a Netcare private hospital in Bloemfontein turned her away.
“I went to Netcare to book myself in for the arrival of the baby. I felt numb when the administrator said my medical aid was inactive.
“An hour later I was at Pelonomi public hospital, even though I am a member of a medical aid scheme. It is the worst situation for a pregnant woman,” she said.
Without medical aid, she can no longer visit her private doctor for consultations and medication for her chronic condition.
According to a member of the council, the municipality chose to challenge the pension fund in court to get its bank account back.
“The council was informed about the planned court case, but there’s no feedback. They went to court last week, but remain quiet.
“Management keeps saying they are working to regain control of the account, but there’s no plan on debt repayment.
“The mayor, speaker and acting municipal manager are all keeping quiet. We are owed salaries, policies have lapsed, even our council-issued cellphones have been blocked. The municipality is deep in debt,” the council member said.
According to the insider, most councillors believe the account coffers have been emptied.
“The pension fund is probably waiting for the municipal grant coming in March. There are no funds in that bank account.
“Kopanong has collapsed,” said the source, who remained anonymous for fear of reprisal.
Meanwhile, Tseletsele denied there was a court challenge to get back the bank account.
“We are negotiating with the pension administrators to allow us access to the bank account so that we can pay salaries.
“The discussions are positive. Their concern is that an agreement reached with Kopanong in 2018 was never honoured.
“That was before this administration came in. Our administration’s agreement with them was signed in 2021, to pay them within two to three years,” he said.
Asked where the money to pay the accumulating debt will come from, Tseletsele said the council is awaiting the implementation of the financial recovery plan.
“National and the provincial government are trying to help us with the financial recovery plan,” Tseletsele said. – getrudem@citizen.co.za