An Emfuleni municipality accountant and senior clerk suspended seven years ago have so far earned R9m in salaries while at home.
The two are among 22 workers from the cash-strapped municipality in the south of Joburg who have earned a combined R23.9m without doing any work as their suspension drags on.
The accountant and senior clerk were both suspended in August 2019, and their cases are still not concluded.
The accountant has so far earned R5.6m while the clerk raked in R3.3m.
This was revealed in answers to questions posed by the DA in the legislature in March.
Other officials who have since been suspended on full pay include a fleet manager, petrol pump attendants, a senior technician and a parks and cemeteries manager.
Two petrol pump attendants who were suspended in March last year have been paid R349,539.34 to date, while a fleet manager who was suspended in May 2025 has been paid R1.2m.
MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs and infrastructure development, Jacob Mamabolo, raised concern and urged the municipality to urgently conclude the long-standing disciplinary proceedings against its employees.
He had also directed the local government turnaround strategy workstream on governance to work closely with the municipality to ensure that the matter was finalised expeditiously.
“Of particular concern is the escalating cost to the municipality in legal fees and related expenses while this matter remains unresolved. The municipality must conclude it without further delay,” Mamabolo said.
Meanwhile, DA MPL Kingsol Chabalala said he will be taking the matter to the public protector’s office, saying the funds were a blatant failure of governance and accountability.
“At a time when residents are struggling with poor service delivery and failing infrastructure, millions are being wasted on unresolved disciplinary processes with no sense of urgency,” he said.
Municipal spokesperson Makhosonke Sangweni attempted to downplay the seriousness of the matter and instead became defensive and launched an attack on Sowetan for biased reporting of Emfuleni’s issues.
“We are concerned about the leaking of such confidential information of our employees and then it being made juicy news, and we don’t believe this is about informing, accountability and educating but more about damaging the institution and driving a political narrative which is subjective and beneficial to other contending forces of our democratic institutions,” said Sangweni.
“We do have people that are suspended but not for as long as you are suggesting... We are not going to change our view that Sowetan is biased, which is not an unfounded conclusion,” Sangweni said.
He also said the R23.9m already spent on salaries is exaggerated.
“The amount you are alleging is a far cry from what we have on our records,” he said.
Emfuleni has been one of the worst-performing municipalities in Gauteng in matters of service delivery. The national department of water and sanitation had to intervene with the municipality after its managers failed to provide a consistent supply of water to homes.
Other service delivery problems have been characterised by failing infrastructure, massive sewage spills and backlogs in road and stormwater maintenance.
Sowetan recently reported about a group of pensioners who had started fixing sewage spills that the municipality allegedly ignored.
Last month, Emfuleni municipal accountant Martha Mani Rantsofu was killed in an apparent hit while running errands in Vanderbijlpark. Her murder sparked debate about the killing of whistleblowers.
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