“Gangster” municipality fails to pay pension fund contributions

Rubbish piles up outside a Primary School in Ditsobotla Local Municipality, where service delivery has ground to a halt. Photo: Nthusang Lefafa

The Ditsobotla Local Municipality in the North West has not paid its employees’ pension contributions for 14 months, according to the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU).

Municipal spokesperson Pius Batsile acknowledged that pension funds have not been paid for several months and attributed it to low revenue collection.

“The municipality is facing cash flow challenges as of now. I am currently not in a position to discuss a way forward relating to the challenges of payments that are supposed to be made to pension funds,” Batsile told GroundUp.

In August last year, employees went three months without salaries after the municipality’s equitable share grant – the portion of national revenue it receives from Treasury every year – was withheld.

The municipality has struggled to collect sufficient revenue to fund its operations. At the end of the 2024/25 financial year, the municipality’s liabilities exceeded its assets by R295-million.

A municipal worker who asked not to be named said it is “painful” that contributions are still deducted from his salary but not paid to the pension fund.

He also went several months without medical aid last year, because contributions were not paid by the municipality.

The beleaguered municipality (main town Lichtenburg) was placed under national administration in September, following years of mismanagement and corruption. President Cyril Ramaphosa said in 2022 that the municipality had been “taken over by gangsterism”. It has been placed under provincial administration eight times.

Service delivery has halted. The Democratic Alliance’s cooperative governance spokesperson for the North West, CJ Steyl, told GroundUp that there is only one refuse truck, which frequently goes in for repairs. As a result, rubbish is being illegally dumped at school yards and open spaces in residential areas.

No road maintenance is taking place because the municipality’s “yellow fleet” of earth-moving equipment has not been properly maintained, said Steyl.

Steyl said it will be at least eight months before the national intervention brings stability and improved service delivery to the municipality. He believes that if suitably qualified and experienced directors and managers are appointed, and the finances are stabilised, service delivery will improve.

Vincent Diphoko, provincial spokesperson of the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU), said it is disappointing that “the municipality is continuing with its culture of non-payment of statutory deductions.”

SAMWU supported placing the municipality under national administration “with a hope that it would rescue the situation,” said Diphoko.

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