ActionSA has opened a criminal case against the accounting officer of a Free State municipality.
Fraud and corruption charges
Party leader in the Free State, Patricia Kopane, on Tuesday went to the Springfontein police station in Kopanong local municipality to lay fraud and corruption charges against the acting municipal manager.
The party revealed that the case was opened against the Kopanong acting municicipal manager, Monwabisi Madolo, regarding allegations that he played an integral role in defrauding recipients of the municipality who are entitled to their pension fund transfers.
According to Kopane, the party decided to take the matter to the police after receiving complaints from municipal workers.
Creditors attach accounts
The employees alleged that their pension fund contributions were affected when the municipal account was attached by creditors who are owed more than R67 million.
“ActionSA has lodged criminal charges against Kopanong municipality’s acting municipal manager, MM Madolo, who, we assert, contravened section 31A of the Pension Fund Act by failing to pay over employees’ pension fund contributions,” Kopane told Sunday World.
She stated that in December last year, the South African African Municipal Workers Union‘s (Samwu) pension fund worth millions of rands was attached to the municipality’s account due to the debt owed to creditors.
She said that the attachment of the pension fund had greatly affected and inconvenienced the workers, to the extent that some of the employees are unable to retire as they do not have any idea how they can access their pension benefits.
“The delay in salary payments, coupled with lapses in employee insurance, medical aid, and missed car payments, intensifies the financial strain on the workforce and threatens their well being and that of the municipality,” she said.
One of the municipal employees, Andile Nqabathe told Kopane that his adverse financial condition had forced him to survive through loan sharks.
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