MMP security officers block access to municipal offices in protest of alleged unpaid salaries

Protesting security officers have blocked the entrance to the offices of the Lepelle Nkumpi municipality in Lebowakgomo, Limpopo.

The workers say they have not received their salaries for three months, from a security company, MMP which is contracted by the municipality. Municipal staffers were unable to enter the municipal premises.

MMP has yet to respond. According to this worker, who has requested anonymity, “We closed the gates of the Lepelle Nkumpi municipal offices as MMP security because we had not been paid for three months.

We intend to keep the gates closed until they pay all of the money owed to us.”

The Defenders of the People, the council’s opposition party, claims that the protest prevented the council from passing the municipal budget.

DOP president Rufus Mphahlele expressed concern that the municipality would be placed under administration if council did not pass the budget by the end of May.

“So there is a huge presence of police services and municipality employees are outside. As DOP we feel it is very inhumed for those workers not to get paid and then as of now it is problematic because if they don’t pass the budget today they will be forced to go into an administration,” Mphahlele reiterates.