Pretoria - The claim by the ANC in Tshwane that the municipality won’t be in a position to pay November salaries because it was bankrupt was a political ploy to destabilise the administration, said MMC for finance, Peter Sutton.
He hit out at the ANC after the party criticised the DA-led coalition for failing to turn around the financial situation of the municipality.
The ANC predicted the metro won’t be able to pay workers’ salaries at the end of November. There were complaints in September that city employees were paid late.
The ANC said late payments were due to the city’s lack of money. This was despite Absa, in its correspondence to the city, saying the late payments were due to “a technical issue on September 24, 2022, which resulted in certain payments not being processed timeously”.
Sutton said: “The City of Tshwane has not paid salaries late and we do not have the intention to do so going into the future.”
He further said the current liquidity situation the city found itself in “is not easy”. “In September the salaries were paid late due to a technical issue at the bank’s side but yet the narrative is tried to be made that it is the city that did not have financial resources … which is a complete lie,” Sutton said.
ANC secretary George Matjila said the party was engaging with “all parties in council because our thinking is that we all represent the interest of the people on the ground”.
ANC caucus chief whip Aaron Maluleka said the party was not desperate to occupy the seat of government, but it “can’t fold arms when the city is on the verge of collapse”.
He said talks with other parties were taking place in the context of forming “a replacement of what we are currently having”, and that the ANC has been holding consultations with communities on service delivery and “people are speaking out there saying that they want an alternative government”.
Pretoria News