The special council meeting scheduled for Tuesday to discuss the overpayment of officials at Musina Municipality collapsed again after a section of ANC councillors boycotted the meeting. Those present could not constitute a quorum, and the meeting had to be postponed.
A similar meeting to discuss the salary matter was boycotted a week earlier. The meeting is now scheduled to take place on 14 August.
Some of the councillors absent from last week's meeting submitted apologies, stating that they were sick. However, those in the know suggested that the meeting was boycotted because of factional battles within the ANC.
Musina's Chief Whip, Fistos Mafela, said the collapse had become a source of concern. "This is quite disturbing. During the last meeting, we at least had apologies, but it becomes a problem when the same councillors do not turn up for another scheduled meeting," he said.
Mafela noted that councillors were supposed to be public representatives elected by the people. "When they no longer carry the people's mandate because of absenteeism, it sends a wrong message. The whole issue looks deliberate with an agenda behind it, but the collapse will definitely come to an end," he said.
The meeting has been necessitated by an instruction from the MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements, and Traditional Affairs in Limpopo, Mr Basikopo Makamu, that the council must address the salary discrepancies. Most of Musina's top officials were appointed on scales they did not qualify for, meaning the small municipality has some of the best-paid officials in Limpopo. The budgeted remuneration for the municipal manager and the chief financial officer is roughly R1.9 million each per year.