Pretoria - Mayor of Tshwane Randall Williams has dispelled claims by the EFF that a R1 billion short-term loan secured by the municipality from Absa will be used to pay municipal staff salaries.
Williams said the City paid the November salaries, including a 13th cheque, on Friday, and that money for payments were already in the bank before November 20.
He said the loan, which was approved by council on Thursday, would be deposited into the municipal account before December.
“Salaries were paid on Friday and the money had to be in the bank before the 20th. So, we fully paid the salaries and the 13th cheque without any problem … we will probably get the money by December. Definitely we didn’t use it for salaries,” Williams said.
Last month, the ANC in Tshwane claimed that the metro would not be in a position to pay the November salaries because it was bankrupt. This, however, was dismissed by the DA-led coalition as a political ploy to destabilise the administration.
Last week the loan came under the spotlight in council in the absence of the ANC, which had decided to abstain from a virtual council meeting with a view to challenge its legality in court.
During the virtual council meeting, EFF Tshwane leader Obakeng Ramabodu suggested that the loan was going to be used for paying staff salaries.
He said the party was rejecting the loan, “but we are not rejecting that workers must be paid.
“We are putting it on record that the City has the capacity of collecting revenue. The City and the mayor have been on social media bragging that they are collecting over R2bn for the past six months. We don’t even think it is something they must be proud of because this City has a capacity to collect even R10bn,” Ramabodu said.
ActionSA Tshwane caucus leader Anniruth Kissoonduth said his party supported the approval of a short-term debt facility for the 2022/23 financial year in council.
“This will improve the City’s liquidity and ensure that service delivery continues uninterrupted.”
Pretoria News