Wages and Consultants first as services deteriorate.

Mpumalanga municipalities in the spotlight for excessive spending on Wages, Consultants and contracted services.

The municipalities in Mpumalanga continue to draw attention to their inabilities to control excessive spending in certain areas.

The biggest loser for residents in these municipalities is the residents as service delivery continues to be pushed backwards on the priority list.

For the 2018/19 financial year, Mpumalanga municipalities spent R7.8 billion on the wage bill, consultants and contracted services while service delivery continues to be in distress. This is according to a statement by Bosman Grobler DA Member of the Provincial Legislator (MPL). He is also the DA Spokesperson on Finance and Economic Development in Mpumalanga.

“Given the lack of service delivery from the municipalities in the province, it is concerning that the employee-related costs took up 30% of the total revenue of municipalities, costing R5.4 billion,” Bosman said, “The Auditor-General (AG) noted that at some municipalities, the amount that was spent on salaries exceeded what was billed to consumers for the sale of basic services.”

• Chief Albert Luthuli spent R184 million which was R132% of its own revenue.
• Bushbuckridge spent R48 million, which was R209% of its own revenue.
• Nkomazi spent R440 million which was 195% of its own revenue, and
• Thembisile Hani spent R156 million which was 144% of its own revenue.

“The fact that municipalities chose to pay more in salaries than the money they received, resulted in a situation where municipalities in the province had to use the equitable share to be able to service the whole wage bill, thus taking away from funding which was allocated for basic services,” Continued Bosman, “The Democratic Alliance (DA) condemns such practices, given that thousands in the mentioned municipalities do not have access to water and other services from government.”

Given the lack of service delivery from the municipalities in the province, it is concerning that the employee-related costs took up 30% of the total revenue of municipalities, costing R5.4 billion

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The DA will write to the MEC of COGTA, Mr Mandla Msibi requesting for the department to ensure that municipalities do not use the equitable share to pay for salaries but to improve service delivery.

If our letter to the MEC does not bring favourable results we will have to revisit all our options,” said Bosman, “Service delivery should be paramount to municipalities and not employment of cadres.”