Regular employees of the Makhado Municipality will be receiving their annual bonuses, while the so-called Section 57 employees have not been evaluated yet and therefore do not know whether they will receive their performance bonuses.

This piece of information was provided by the official spokesperson of the Makhado Municipality, Mr. Louis Bobodi, when a number of questions were put to him about a council meeting held two weeks ago, where a number of potentially controversial matters were to be discussed.

The Section 57 employees are supposed to be evaluated according to their performance in terms of prescribed criteria that relate to service delivery. Bobodi also indicated that some of these employees had not been employed for a full year as yet, which would make the paying of a performance bonus problematic. He was unable to comment on the possibility of a pro rata payment for these employees.

Another contentious matter discussed during the Council meeting was the writing off of debts outstanding for more than three years. Council has approved a recommendation that 50% of the debts older than three years should be written off. This means that residents of the former R293 townships in the Makhado Municipal area who have owed the municipality money for more than three years will have to come to the offices of the Makhado Municipality and negotiate a plan on how they will repay 50% of the debt. If this is done, the municipality will write off the remainder of the debt.

According to the proposal accepted by Council, this is a “strategy of cultivating the culture of payment amongst the consumers.” The process will be monitored closely by the municipality to prevent people from relapsing into an attitude of non-payment. Bobodi expressed confidence that such a step will be successful and will not promote an attitude of refusal to pay.