Impendle Municipality fails to pay salaries, KZN Gogta MEC demands accountability

By Thapelo Molefe

By the time councillors and officials gathered at Impendle Local Municipality offices on Wednesday, the bank account was nearly empty, salaries were unpaid, and service delivery projects had stalled.

It was against this backdrop that KwaZulu-Natal Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Thulasizwe Buthelezi arrived to “crack the whip” on a municipality he says has slipped into financial and administrative paralysis.

Buthelezi’s oversight visit followed the municipality’s failure to pay January salaries to councillors and staff after municipal coffers were depleted. According to the department, the crisis is not new: Impendle defaulted on salaries in May 2025 and narrowly avoided a similar collapse in December.

Addressing a tense full council sitting, the MEC demanded immediate explanations for what he described as a breakdown in governance and internal controls.

“A municipality cannot be a ship without a captain. This leadership vacuum has directly contributed to the current state