Independent News reports that Parliament has urged the cash-strapped Amathole District Municipality to find a solution to its financial woes that have seemingly threatened its ability to pay salaries over the next four months.  

On 7 January, the municipality notified councillors, employees and traditional leaders that it would be unable to pay the salaries for February, April, May and June.  The municipality needs a staggering R411 million for its salary bill with at least R65m for the next four months.  In its circular, Amathole said its cash-flow projections for the remainder of the financial year showed that it would not be able to honour salary payments.  The municipality was fingered by the late auditor-general Kimi Makwetu as the top spender on consultants and salaries.  It has blamed its financial hardships on low revenue collection, drought, Covid-19 pandemic and bloated personnel that was beyond the norm.  On Tuesday, cooperative governance and traditional affairs portfolio chairperson Faith Muthambi urged the leaders and managers of Amathole to find solutions to its financial and budgetary problems.  “The non-payment of salaries to the staff is inadvertently going to affect the delivery of services to the people, a constitutional responsibility for which the municipality exists.  We are calling on the leadership and the management of the municipality to rise to the occasion and find solutions to the problems,” Muthambi said.  She also pointed out that the non-payment of salaries, even for one month, was a very serious problem with unspeakable implications.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mayibongwe Maqhina at Independent News

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