Johannesburg – The embattled Amathole district is giving legislators sleepless nights.
The chairperson of the portfolio committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs, Faith Muthambi, has since appealed to the leaders and managers of Amathole district to find solutions to the financial and budgetary problems contributing to the municipality’s inability to pay councillors, traditional leaders and staff for four months.
“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,” said Muthambi.
“The committee hopes that the problem is not beyond the capacity of the council and the management of the municipality.”
According to the municipality, it needs at least R410-million to stay afloat and has issued an appeal to both the provincial and national government. The municipality was in November also ordered to cease its plan to halt payment of millions of rand in car and travel allowances and other benefits enjoyed by close to 200 senior administration bosses, after being taken to the Labour Court.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union in the Eastern Cape has called for the cashstrapped Amathole district municipality to be placed under administration. The municipality is not the only one in the province facing financial ruin.
The DA in the Eastern Cape has asked the MEC for co-operative governance and traditional affairs , Xolile Nqatha, to appoint a special task team to investigate the financial matters of at least 14 municipalities in distress in the province.
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