By Sihle Mavuso
The broke Msunduzi [Pietermaritzburg] local municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands is battling a financial crisis and to stay afloat, has instituted a range of cost-cutting measures.
These include suspending all projects for a year, limiting overtime work for staff, stopping meals being served during council sittings and not allowing staff members to take municipal cars home.
The measures were signed by the acting city manager in an internal memo sent to all staff members on 3 April.
The municipality, which is the seat of the provincial legislature, has been under administration for the past few years after it was found that ratepayers’ money was being misused.
Recently, suspended city manager Lulamile Mapholoba revealed in a leaked submission to the council how he was pushed out by the political leadership of the municipality when he started a crackdown to fight the blatant looting of municipal funds.
Mapholoba claimed the leadership of the ANC in the Moses Mabhida region regularly interferes in the operations of the municipality to shield certain corrupt employees who also happen to be “comrades”.
The municipality’s spokesperson, Ntobeko Mkhize, confirmed the latest cost-cutting measures but condemned the leaking of internal information.
“We confirm that the municipality has an existing cost containment strategy adopted by council – the strategy is in line with the guidelines from Treasury and seeks to eliminate any waste of municipal resources on non-critical and non-service delivery activities, and to enhance service delivery,” Mkhize told Scrolla.Africa.
She did not address the question of whether they would be able to pay staff their salaries in the foreseeable future.
Pictured above: Msunduzi City Hall.
Image source: KZN Info
