IMPENDLE, KwaZulu-Natal — The National Treasury has withheld Impendle Local Municipality funds, pushing the rural KwaZulu-Natal local authority deeper into a financial crisis and prompting unpaid workers to threaten a strike. The funding block, which restricts the July equitable share transfer, leaves municipal employees who have not been paid in four months facing severe livelihood constraints.
The financial intervention is part of a broader national crackdown on municipal mismanagement. Impendle is one of 69 municipalities across South Africa that had their equitable share transfers restricted this month, with the Treasury citing the local council’s repeated inability to comply with essential financial management standards.
The financial turmoil is not a new issue for the town of roughly 40,000 residents, which ranks among the smallest local municipalities in the province. Due to these ongoing governance failures, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) officially placed Impendle under Section 139B administration on May 26. Provincial officials noted that the municipality lacked proper governance structures and failed to implement consequence management for officials implicated in fraud and corruption.
The withholding of the July tranche has devastated the local workforce, compounding months of financial strain. Mr. Zuma, a representative for the municipal workers, explained that the situation has become untenable for the staff. According to Mr. Zuma, between 150 and 200 employees—including permanent administrative staff and workers from the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP)—have gone without salaries for nearly four months.
“You can imagine how someone can live without a salary when there are so many needs that must be taken care of,” Mr. Zuma stated, emphasizing that the Treasury’s decision to block the funds at the beginning of July made an already dire situation significantly worse.
The workers had been holding out hope that the provincial administration would stabilize the municipality’s accounts in time for the July payroll. Instead, the announcement that certain funds would be withheld dashed those expectations, leaving staff in ongoing consultations with municipal management to figure out a path forward.
Now, the workers are looking to a forthcoming visit by a national parliamentary select committee, which is scheduled to arrive in Impendle this week to assess the Section 139B intervention.
While Mr. Zuma expressed hope that the parliamentary visit would fast-track negotiations, restore service delivery, and save the employees’ livelihoods, the workers’ patience is wearing thin. He warned that if senior authorities fail to resolve the crisis, the municipal employees will have no choice but to embark on a strike, as they can no longer wait for the situation to be sorted out.