With the new communication doing rounds on social media, the troubled municipality informs employees that their salaries will only be processed on Friday 9 July 2021. This advisory communique to employees explains that the municipality is still awaiting funds to process their salaries. OFM News previously reported that in June the municipality twice failed to pay employees on time and now this is for the third time in just the following month. The municipality is yet to comment.

Meanwhile, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs' (Cogta) Head of the Department (HOD), Mokete Duma, previously said despite the department being fully aware of the challenges facing this municipality, the department won’t be able to bail them out.

Duma said the municipality at the time (June) had approached them for assistance regarding employees' salaries. He said despite the department being fully aware of the challenges facing this municipality, the department won’t be able to bail them out. 

Duma said the department’s budget is a bit constrained owing to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The budget that was allocated to assist municipalities is almost exhausted as we have, on a first-come-first-serve basis, [helped other municipalities]. We have already assisted some municipalities in the province and we will have to check within other programmes what the plans in terms of those programmes are. And if the money might not be used, we might shift money and maybe help them. But at this stage, we are quite constrained to actually assist them with any amount of money,” he added.

OFM News