Appearing before parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), officials of Theunissen-based Masilonyana failed to account for the movement of taxpayers' money. Revelations at the committee suggested officials have been rewarding themselves with handsome bonuses, ranging from R4,000 to over R100,000 over two financial years, while the municipality struggled to meet critical obligations, including workers’ pension fund contributions.

Committee members also heard the municipality could not account for approximately R75m owed to third parties for workers’ pension contributions, despite deductions being made from employees’ salaries.

Further concerns were raised after it emerged that senior officials had their pension contributions paid in full and on time, while ordinary workers’ pension payments allegedly remained outstanding.

Municipal leadership also struggled to explain payments made to senior officials under a category labelled “other allowances”. “There is a disclosure of other allowances in your financial statements under your salaries, especially your one (municipal manager, Mojalefa Matlole), the other allowance is R15,000,” said EFF MP Ntombovuyo Veronica Mente-Nkuna.

“Mrs Sello, whose community service is R54,000, which is a reduction by half; last financial year it was R105,000. Mr Amos Makoae is R9,000, Mr Tshepiso is R88,000, an increase from R4,000 last financial year. What is the other allowance?”

Attempting to respond, Masilonyana CFO Amos Makoae said the category included travelling costs, car allowances, and housing allowances. However, Mente-Nkuna disputed the explanation, pointing out that such expenses already appeared under separate categories in the municipality’s financial statements.

“I’m going to make an example with this one of senior manager corporate services, Mr Tshepiso Tsotetsi, who has another allowance of R88,000; last financial year it was R4,000, what is that for?” Mente-Nkuna asked again.

She accused municipal officials of enriching themselves while service delivery and workers suffered. “This is a financial statement declared by your CFO, these are the monies we were asking for earlier to make up the R15m, which is not the R15m.

“(It’s) almost R18m (that) I’m calculating here a month. And above 50% of it goes to yourselves, not to the workers. Now we want to know, what is it that you pay yourselves?”

Makoae later told the committee that the “other allowance” reflected on his payslip was a cellphone allowance amounting to R2,000 per month.

Mente-Nkuna criticised officials for failing to provide clear explanations for the payments, arguing that the ballooning salary bill was contributing to the municipality’s financial collapse while residents continued to suffer from poor service delivery.

The municipality’s annual salary bill stands at R168m, exceeding its equitable share allocation of R157m, highlighting its heavy reliance on government grants to remain operational.

Makoae had revealed startling details about the municipality’s financial controls, telling Scopa officials had bypassed the municipality’s financial management system for years and instead processed transactions manually.

The municipality’s financial troubles are not new. In 2022, auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke told MPs three Free State municipalities were among six out of ten sampled municipalities that could not account for taxpayers’ money.

The cash-strapped municipalities included Qwaqwa-based Maluti-A-Phofung, Masilonyana, and Boshof-based Tokologo local municipalities. The matter was subsequently reported to the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), the national body responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating financial intelligence.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi sm

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