Dire state of Kopanong local municipality’s finances spells trouble ahead

The overwhelmed Kopanong local municipality is grasping at straws as financial woes are haunting the embattled Trombsburg-based municipality.

Plagued by its financial woes, the municipality said its financial woes are constraint by the national government for failure to pay over R45 million in rates and taxes.

As a result, the municipality is unable to pay its employees and service providers towards end of September.

This month, the cash-strapped Kopanong local municipality, has informed its employees, creditors, and council members that salaries scheduled to be paid on September 30, 2022, will now be paid on October 1, 2022.

According to the municipal council speaker Jerry Moitse, due to inadequate revenue collection, the municipality has had a severe impact on their financial viability, which has led to the municipality failing to settle the payroll for this month.

“Since 2016, we have been struggling to get the provincial and national departments to settle their accounts. There has been no change so far. It is very worrying to always hear how Kopanong municipality has no money but it is the same province that owes the council a lot of money,” Moitse said.

“The committee promised to give feedback within seven days, and 6 months later nothing has happened. With R45 million, Kopanong can cover five months’ salaries and then the council does not have to use projects’ funds to pay salaries,” he added.

This is not for the first time the embattled municipality fail to disperse the payroll.

Last year, the municipality failed to pay at least its 450 workers and service providers for a period of three months after the Bloemfontein High Court judge attached its bank account due to debt of more than R25 million.

Currently, the municipality is facing another major setback to restore services and to restructure the troubled Jagersfontein township where parts of a mine tailings dam collapsed and caused mud floods that wrecked havoc on the outskirts of Jagersfontein.