More than 4,000 former councillors have yet to be paid their “once-off gratuity” following the August local government elections, the Ministry of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs has said.<\/p>\n
Responding to a parliamentary written question from Democratic Alliance MP Kevin Mileham, Minister Des van Rooyen said the payment process had already started.<\/p>\n
Over R300m had been set aside to pay the more than 5,000 councillors who did not return to office after the elections.<\/p>\n
The total amount that would be paid out would be determined after the payments had been finalised, the minister said in his reply.<\/p>\n
“The department is busy with the necessary preparations, calculations and verification of the payments to eligible non-returning councillors. An amount of R309m was appropriated for this purpose. As at 28 November 2016, more than 4 000 former councillors still need to receive their gratuities,” he said.<\/p>\n
They had had to wait for the Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office-Bearers’ recommendations before they started with the process.<\/p>\n
The commission had recommended that only non-returning councillors who served for at least 24 consecutive months prior to the election were eligible to receive the “once-off gratuity payment”.<\/p>\n
The payments would be based on basic salaries and not annual total remuneration packages, the commission said.<\/p>\n