ULUNDI, 27 May 2025 – The Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi, has assigned senior officials to engage with the leadership of the Mpendle Local Municipality. This action follows reports indicating the municipality’s inability to fully compensate its employees.
The department has received concerning information regarding the municipality’s financial standing, including partial salary payments to workers and the failure to remit third-party deductions, such as UIF, pension fund contributions, and medical aid payments, to the relevant entities. These actions have caused unnecessary hardship on the lives of the workers in the municipality, who now find themselves without their due compensation and benefits.
MEC Buthelezi has dispatched a team of senior officials to meet with the leadership of the Mpendle Local Municipality to ascertain the root causes of these financial irregularities and the steps that are being taken to correct them and to implement consequence management.
The MEC remains committed to ensuring that all municipalities within the province adhere to their constitutional obligations and uphold principles of good governance and fiscal discipline.
The department will implement necessary mechanisms to ensure compliance and accountability.