The Thulamela Municipality is facing a serious financial crisis. Limpopo Mirror has it on good authority that the municipality is so stressed financially that it is struggling to pay salaries for its close to 600 employees.

According to a source from within the municipality, the problems, which started in November last year, have forced the municipality to seek an urgent overdraft of R20 million in order to pay the employees in March this year.

The municipality spends about R10 million on salaries every month for the employees. “Since then, the municipality is surviving by utilising the equitable share grants of R65 million from the national treasury which they received in July,” says the source.

The source says the financial problems are caused by the “mismanagement” and bad decisions taken by top management. Apparently, one of the leading causes for the financial misery is the electrification programme. The municipality allegedly spent millions of rands to electrify villages where people cannot afford to pay levies.

The source also accuses the municipal manager of implementing bad policies and creating precedents. One such example is where residents of Makwarela near Sibasa were allegedly exempted from paying levies, because they were not receiving a regular supply of water. The decision, which is seen as politically motivated, was made before the national elections this year and it has prompted the community members of Malamulele and Shayandima also to stop paying levies.

“This problem has been keeping the manager on his toes and he has been trying to secure employment somewhere else, but with no success. The manager also wanted to be a municipal manager for Vhembe District Municipality, but he did not succeed in the interviews,” says the source.

It is also understood that the municipality spent 75% of its legal budget last year in only four months, due to the large number of cases. These include labour issues and legal battles against the Mphaphuli, Madonzi and Tshivhase royal families.

It is also understood that all the own funding projects that were identified in the IDP budget for the 2009/10 financial year were cut without the knowledge of the community in an attempt to save costs. Municipal employees, especially middle managers, are no longer getting travel allowances during conferences and meetings because of the financial constraints.

Early this year, the municipality sold four hundred empty stands for residential purposes near Hollywood and Unit D in an attempt to raise funds.

“The decision to evict hawkers from streets was also an act of frustration by the municipality, which is desperate to collect funds by all means,” says the source.

The municipality tried to evict hawkers two weeks ago, demanding license fees of R170. The move provoked hawkers to destroy other people’s businesses while polluting the streets as a response to the municipality’s actions.

When approached for comment, the municipal spokesperson, Nndwamato Tshiila, said: “As a municipality we are getting the information from you as media people for the first time.”