Runaway (gravy) train in Musina?

By Anton van Zyl and Elmon Tshikhudo

A meeting to discuss the overpayment of officials at the Musina Municipality could not proceed on Tuesday as there was no quorum. It is believed that the meeting was boycotted by a certain faction within the ANC that is protecting, among others, the municipal manager.

This past week, it also came to light that the Musina Council knew for at least 18 months that they were overpaying senior officials but had done very little to rectify the situation.

You were warned!

When Mr Nathi Tshiwanammbi was appointed as municipal manager (MM) in September 2022, the salary negotiated between him and the council was well above the maximum allowed. He did not qualify for the maximum perks and had to be appointed on the minimum scale, but this was not done. He was, however, one of several managers who were (and still are) remunerated above the applicable scales.

The Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs publishes regulations every year which determine the upper and lower limits of the total remuneration of municipal managers and senior managers reporting to the MM. Musina is classified as a Category 3 municipality, and in 2023 the minimum remuneration for an MM was R1.12 million and the maximum was set at R1.45 million. To qualify for the maximum perks, the candidate would have had to prove superior competency and more than ten years of experience in such a position.

On 27 July 2023, the minister wrote to the MEC responsible for Local Government in Limpopo to point out that the remuneration of Musina’s MM needs to be adjusted to be in line with the appropriate scales. In August last year, the MEC informed the Musina Council that “the remuneration package of R1,386,637 is deemed as an overpayment and must be rectified/adjusted to the applicable notch as per the criteria and recovered.”

But even before the minister and MEC officially tried to intervene, there were letters urging the municipality to toe the line and heed legislation. In November 2022, the mayor, Cllr Godfrey Mawela, was warned that the General Manager of Technical Services, Ms M Mothoa, was overpaid. She was offered a remuneration of R1.18 million, whereas she should have been appointed on an annual remuneration of R930,224 (which included the 4% rural allowance). The same applied to the appointment of Ms NP Demana, who became General Manager of Community Services.

The overpayment of the MM was first raised in October 2022 by the MEC, Mr Basikopo Makamu.

On 9 October last year, a special council meeting was scheduled to discuss the overpayment of senior officials. The resolution seemingly taken was to request a waiver from the minister. It is uncertain whether this was done.

Can Musina afford it?

The total cost of especially senior officials and councillors is crippling Musina, which is the smallest municipality in Vhembe in terms of population.

In the 2023/24 financial year, the salary bill for municipal staff amounted to R164.27 million. That means the average salary for workers at the municipality was R56,102 per month. The councillors collectively received R11.43 million, or an average of R52,900 per month.

Musina also outsources a lot of work previously done by staff members. The bill for contracted services in the 2023/24 year was R40.31 million, which should be added to the staff costs to get a clear picture of how big a percentage of the total costs it represents. This means that the “salary bill” would be closer to R216 million, or 39.81% of the operational income.

The fact that Musina has a serious problem in collecting its income was acknowledged by the mayor during his budget presentation. He mentioned that outstanding debts had surpassed R86 million, which means that the percentage of income spent on remuneration is much higher.

In the latest available annual financial statements (2022/23) for Musina, it is indicated that the MM received a total remuneration of R1,707,861 and the CFO was paid R1,234,506. In the case of the MM, it included “leave pay” of R426,455.

In the latest budget, the MM’s remuneration is estimated to be R1,894,000 and R1,902,000 is set aside for the CFO.

Can it be stopped?

Disgruntled residents went on a rampage this past month, at times completely blocking off the municipality. Members of the local community even kept vigil at the municipality's gate, vowing not to leave until the MM vacates his office.

The protests attracted the attention of the MEC Basikopo Makamu, who cooled down the situation by promising to look into their grievances. The residents, who for two weeks kept vigil at the municipality entrance, left their position awaiting a response from MEC Makamu.

True to his word, Makamu returned after some days and confirmed publicly that according to the law, the MM had illegally overpaid himself and advised that the council convene to rescind and reverse the overpayment of the MM's salary.

The special council meeting held on Tuesday (23 July) to deal with the issue quickly turned into a non-event. Only 12 of the council’s 24 councillors arrived for the meeting, which had to be adjourned because there was no quorum. Conspicuous in his absence was the mayor, Cllr Godfrey Mawela.

The Chief Whip at the municipality, Cllr Fistos Mafela, is very outspoken in his criticism of the MM and the councillors supporting him. “It is true that the MM overpaid himself by over R300,000. The meeting was aimed at reversing this and ensuring that the MM gets the correct salary. On top of that, the MM must pay back the money he overpaid himself," he said.

Mafela said they have decided to postpone the meeting to Monday next week. “There is no way council will not sit over the issue. Remember, we took an oath to serve our people, and it becomes a problem when an elected councillor deliberately makes himself or herself absent when there is a burning issue like this one,” he said.

One of the concerned community members, Ms Geraldine Norton, said she was very disappointed by the conduct of some of the councillors, who she referred to as selfish. “Remember MEC Makamu was here to intervene and advised them on how to deal with the issues, but they chose not to attend this important special meeting about this pressing issue. It is clear that they are not there for us as the community. What we need now is the dissolution of the council as prescribed by the law. Then we can elect councillors who will respect their mandate,” she said.

Date:26 July 2024

By: Anton van Zyl

Anton van Zyl has been with the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror since 1990. He graduated from the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg) and obtained a BA Communications degree. He is a founder member of the Association of Independent Publishers.

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