ALSO READ: Free State municipality yet to pay its workers

Workers and councillors, among others, were paid mid-November after the debtors, including the provincial department and national government, paid what they owed to the municipality in terms of taxes and rates.

According to the municipal spokesperson, Zongezile Ntjwabule, the salaries for both these months were paid in full.

Ntjwabule says they went on an extensive drive to recover and generate the monies owed to the municipality, amounting to millions of rands.

"I can confirm that we went on an extensive drive to recover or to generate revenue that assists the municipality to be able to raise sufficient funds for salaries and to cover salaries. We looked at all our revenue sources and all our debtors and we included areas, both from provincial and national government departments, that do have accounts with us and we looked into it. Some of those departments, which include the Department of Public Works, [assisted] a great deal [to come to the] rescue of the municipality," he added.

However, Ntjwabule refuted allegations that monies or salaries to workers and councillors were paid by a service provider. 

A source informed OFM News that a controversial private company known to OFM News, which was recently entangled in a public spat over an irregular tender, had paid the salaries. But Ntjubule says the allegations are without substance and lacks merit. 

Ntjwabule spoke to OFM News in Winnie Mandela Town, formerly known as Brandfort. This is where the national minister of Sports, Arts, and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, flanked by the Free State MEC, Limakatso Mahasa, and Premier Sisi Ntombela, officially handed over the Winnie Madikizela Mandela museum.

Earlier this year, the troubled municipality paid workers with food vouchers after it had failed to raise enough revenue to pay workers and service debts owed to third parties, including medical and pensions.

In June 2022, another ailing Free State municipality, Masilonyana, gave its employees R1000 food vouchers following the non-payment of salaries.

ALSO READ: FS municipality offering food vouchers to unpaid workers

Eleven municipalities, including the Trompsburg-based Kopanong Local Municipality, had approached Cooperative Governance and Treasury for a bailout after failing to pay salaries due to cash flow issues, which were said to be linked to the low revenue collection.

ALSO READ: Eleven Free State municipalities beg for bailout

Ntjwabule has since informed OFM News that the municipality's salary bill runs close to R9 million and they are able to raise R11 million in a good month.

Currently, there are few municipalities in the province failing to pay workers because they are not able to raise enough revenue from services delivered. Other reasons include the issue of people who can't offer to pay for services.

The Trompsburg-based Kopanong Local is among those that have consistently failed to pay the salaries of workers due to the reasons mentioned above.

OFM News previously reported that according to Premier Sisi Ntombela, the municipality has a month-to-month salary bill of at least R12.2 million, whereas they can only collect a mere R2.5 million in revenue.

ALSO READ: Free State municipality's bill is R12,2m but it collects R2,5m

She mentioned that this troubled municipality owes the South African Revenue Services (SARS), Eskom, and Bloem Water over R500 million.

“They are using the government’s conditional grant, which should have created jobs for the people and they are using it to pay the salaries. And it’s a legacy. The mayor and councillors are trying everything. They don’t even have section 56 managers because they can’t pay them,” she added.

The municipality also owes over R20 million to the pension fund of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), which emanates from 2012.

OFM News