Nearly 500 workers of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry are to be transferred to the Makhado Municipality. The impact this step will have on the Council’s cash-flow situation has been questioned seriously by several interest groups.

"The transfer of water service workers from Vhembe District Municipality to Makhado Municipality will further increase the salary bill in the years to come. With normal increases for present staff, we may be building up to a salary bill of over 60% of the total budget. Any businessman can tell you that you are on your way to ruin," reads a letter by the Soutpansberg Ratepayers Association (SBPA), dated May 25. The letter was addressed to the municipal manager. At that stage, the speculation was that more than 200 workers could be transferred.

"An estimated 494 staff for 12 rudimentary schemes [will be transferred]," is the answer supplied by Mr MT Makumule, Development Planning Manager of the Vhembe District Municipality.

For the first three years, DWAF will pay 100% of the workers’ salaries. In the fourth year, DWAF will pay 70% and the district municipality 30%. In the fifth year, the ratio will be 50/50 and in the sixth year, DWAF will pay 30 percent and the district municipality 70%, with "100% paid by the municipality in the seventh year," Makumule said.

Concerning the nearly 500 new employees, the municipal spokesperson, Mr Peter Magwala, said on June 19 that "provision will be made in the budget, which will be supplemented by the grants we receive annually from the central government." Magwala was positive that the skills and expertise of the new workers would assist to improve the delivery of service. "They will address the current shortage of personnel and the organogram will be amended to incorporate them into the system," Magwala said. He assured current municipal workers that none of their posts would be affected.

As to the reason why the DWAF workers are to be transferred, Makumule said that Vhembe District Municipality was a water services authority (WSA) and DWAF schemes were transferred to the WSA. "The WSA should engage in a section-78 process to check internal and external mechanisms. Vhembe District Municipality is appointing its four local municipalities as water services providers," said Makumule.