The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape urges the provincial government to use the re-tabling of the Northern Cape budget as an opportunity to address long-standing financial failures at local level that have dominoed into salary crises in Thembelihle and !Kheis municipalities.
Non-payment of creditors forced National Treasury to withhold equitable share allocations from local municipalities in March 2025 causing municipalities to scramble to pay salaries and suppliers on time.
Payments of May’s salaries by the Thembelihle Local Municipality will again be late, as the municipality blames ‘severe financial difficulties’ for its persistent failure to meet its obligations. Because April salaries were paid three weeks late, Thembelihle’s officials went on a go-slow and, with no funds to pay providers, service delivery ground to a near halt.
Officials are frustrated with erratic salary payments, which worsens credit records, culminates in suspension of medical aid coverage, and makes it difficult to meet their families’ needs. It also seems that there is a growing backlog of overdue pension payments. Payment of retirement contributions is another legal obligation that the municipality cannot avoid and yet it seems as if workers’ retirement is being sacrificed while the provincial government sits by.
A similar scenario is unfolding in the !Kheis Local Municipality, where SAMWU secured a judgement from the Kimberley High Court on 23 May ordering municipal salaries to be paid. The court commented that it is not sufficient for government to claim that there simply isn’t enough money and that payment will be made eventually.
When I asked Premier Zamani Saul about the ramifications of National Treasury’s decision during a sitting on 27 March, he committed to provide a written reply on the provincial government’s strategy to intervene and assist local municipalities that persistently fail to pay their creditors in a timely manner. Two months later, with salaries still hanging in the balance and legal action being taken to protect municipal workers, the premier has not yet fulfilled his promise.
Re-tabling the provincial budget provides an opportunity to table feasible, practical strategies that pull municipalities like Thembelihle out of its financial quagmires. We urge the premier to make the most of this opportunity instead of letting it slide.