Employees of the troubled Mafube municipality in Free State look set to again spend the festive season penniless.
This after the Municipal Workers Retirement Fund (MWRF) attached the municipal accounts to claim outstanding amounts the municipality has struggled to pay the fund.
The municipality, which is under the Fezile Dabi district, has been faced with the tragedy of salary non-payments for at least 10 years.
Though it was initially described as an innocent mistake when salaries were paid later than the scheduled date, the situation has become severe with staff complaining that they go for months without pay.
Employees endured three months without pay between May and July.
Now after four months of receiving payment, they were notified that the municipality has exhausted plans to have them paid and that they might go through December and January without their salaries.
Depressing news regretted
“The situation is brought about by the fact that the Municipal Workers Retirement Fund approached the Free State High Court with an intention to be granted an order to attach and subsequently garnish the funds in all municipal accounts,” reads a letter from Mothusi Lepheana, Mafube’s municipal manager.
“You are therefore advised to inform all your creditors accordingly. Timeous updates will also be shared with yourselves through your union leadership if there are new developments in this regard.
“We regret to share such depressing news, especially at the time like this.”
Johnson Mbele, chairperson of the South African Municipal Workers Union, said it is heartbreaking that workers have to suffer this fate even though not all of them are members of the MWRF.
Mbele said the possible non-payment of salaries has instilled in workers fear of losing their assets, as some creditors have lost patience with the municipality.
He said he has also received a letter of demand that he should pay off the debt regardless of the municipality continuously promising to pay it off.
“This is really not a good period to be going through this challenge because we need money to survive this time [of the year],” said Mbele.
“We need to settle our debit orders halfway December because that is the norm and obviously everything goes back to normal in January.
“Schools will [also] want their registrations and school fees.”
Payment plan option
Lepheana said he is working tirelessly to find a way to slow down the MWRF from demanding to be paid all its money at once.
“I am certain that if we follow the payment plan I am suggesting to them, we will squash the debt and continue working as they did with the municipality before this payment challenges,” said Lepheana.
“I feel pained that the employees might not get paid during this period. I understand that they need the money for their personal things, this is depressing for them.
“That is why I am trying everything in my powers to work on this.”
He said the municipality and the MWRF are organising a meeting to try and find common ground and spare the workers their salaries.
[irp posts=”287465″ ]Lepheana is also worried that no services would be delivered if impasse persists, saying he does not believe that employees would want to work for free.
Themba Mfeka, MWRF principal officer, said he is not backing down, noting that it took the fund long enough to take the matter to court.
He said the municipality has made promises and proposed payment plans in the 12 years it has not been paying the retirement fund.
This, he said, is the only chance to finally recoup the money owed to the fund.
[irp posts=”286948″ ]“They had formed a task team to sweet-talk us into releasing the attached accounts because they wanted to get paid, but the emotional blackmail will not work this time,” said Mfeka.
“While they are thinking about themselves, they are not considering how long their municipality has not paid us. There is no guarantee that we would be paid soon without us taking action.”
He said for as long as the MWRF is not being paid, the money attracts compound interest, noting that it is for this reason he felt he needed to put his foot down and execute his plan.
