Treasury releases funds, Impendle Municipality vows to urgently pay outstanding staff December salaries
Cogta MEC Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi has ordered the Impendle Local Municipality to settle unpaid salaries by December 31.
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The Impendle Local Municipality has announced that it will pay outstanding salaries to its workers by today, following a series of engagements with the National Treasury.
The municipality said it had resolved its challenges with the Treasury that left it with no money to pay the outstanding salaries in early December. Staff therefore had a bleak Christmas period.
Councillors in the municipality expressed deep concern about the state of the municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, warning that it has been in decline for more than a year and is on the verge of collapse. This is the second time this year the municipality has failed to pay workers’ salaries.
Spokesperson for the municipality, Thami Mkhulisa, stated that the municipality had been in discussions with the National Treasury after it withheld a significant portion of their equitable share.
About 75 municipalities in the country have been affecting by the withholding of the equitable share allocation.
“We were expecting to receive an equitable share of R16 million from the National Treasury, but instead, we were allocated only R4 million. We engaged with them to express that withholding such an amount from us is tantamount to closing the municipality. We are a small municipality, and this funding is crucial for our operations,” Mkhulisa said.
He further noted that not all workers had been affected as about 110 employees had received their salaries. The outstanding salaries are owed to about 60 employees.
The Mercury has seen internal messages from staff expressing their fears that if the Treasury did not allocate the R12 million in equitable share, workers would be without salaries until June next year.
“We are under a great deal of stress. How are we going to pay our children’s school fees next year?” one employee lamented.
IFP councillor Sadewu Ngubane expressed concern about the deteriorating situation. “Concerns are mounting about the implications of unpaid salaries, especially during the festive season. Many workers had plans for the holidays that have now been disrupted due to the lack of payment. What has happened here is intolerable. Workers are not paid their salaries, and this is especially distressing during the festive season.”
He detailed the extent of the crisis, highlighting that many permanent staff members have not been paid. “We have not received any concrete information, but we have heard that we could be paid by Monday. The municipality leadership has indicated that they have been engaging with the Treasury and have resolved some funding issues,” the councillor said.
The situation has reached a critical point, with reports indicating that the municipality is on the brink of collapse. Last year, the municipality struggled financially, even running out of toilet paper and failing to make payments for water to the Umgungundlovu District Municipality. Some vehicles leased from service providers were reportedly being reclaimed due to non-payment.
In May this year, the situation deteriorated further, with workers not getting paid on their salary dates.
“Things have gone so bad that some of the committees were not even sitting anymore. The crisis of the municipality led us to put forward a motion of no confidence against the mayor. We had hoped that this would change, but it has become clear that extensive damage has been done to the municipality,” the councillor added.
In a statement a few days ago, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) said it notes with deep concern the failure of the municipality to pay employee salaries and allowances for December 2025.
Cogta MEC Thulasizwe Buthelezi described the situation as unacceptable and sympathised with the affected workers.
“It is deeply regrettable that municipal employees and their families are facing such hardship during the festive season. It is unacceptable for workers to be left destitute due to administrative failures,” said MEC Buthelezi.