Seven African National Congress (ANC) councillors in the Thabazimbi municipality in Limpopo were not paid their December salaries.
This is due to squabbles between two parallel councils, the Democratic Alliance-led coalition and the ANC-led coalition in the municipality.
DA councillor Tokkie Swanepoel and Ben Thlabadira of the Thabazimbi Forum for Service Delivery were elected mayor and speaker respectively after last year’s local municipal elections.
ANC councillors Judy Mohapi and Tshego Ramoabi were also elected mayor and speaker last month following a motion of no-confidence against the DA-led council by a faction of councillors.
Mohapi and Romoabi are among those who have not been paid.
ANC Spokesperson in the Waterberg region, Seraka Mapeka, says what happened is unlawful.
“How do you have an instance whereby the whole speaker instructs the purported municipal manager not to pay other councillors? I believe all municipal structures… in Section 87, it actually stipulates what comes to the duties of the speaker. There is nowhere (where) it says the speaker can instruct the municipal manager not to pay people.”
Meanwhile, in correspondence between the speaker Ben Thlabadira and the acting municipal manager, it has been indicated that council resolved to withhold the councillors’ salaries pending an investigation into the alleged breach of the code of conduct.
Speaker Ben Thlabadira was not available for comment.
Incidents of unpaid salaries
Earlier this month, disgruntled ANC workers staged a picket outside Nasrec in the south of Johannesburg, two days before the party’s National Elective Conference.
The party was hosting the Presidential gala dinner, which several delegates and dignitaries attended.
Speaking on the sidelines of the gala dinner, then-party spokesperson Pule Mabe said they’d been raising funds to pay salaries.
More details in the report below:
