Councillors at Msunduzi Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal should not expect to have their funerals covered through the public purse.
An earlier push to have funerals paid for by ratepayers made official council policy was stopped on Wednesday.
Acting municipal manager Sizwe Hadebe told the executive committee meeting the office of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube had said the law did not allow for this.
“We have been advised by the MEC’s office that the Municipal Finance Management Act does not allow for this,” said Hadebe.
The response means that the efforts by the ANC-dominated council to have this made official council policy comes to an end.
In January last year, council endorsed a move, despite opposition from the DA and IFP, to have councillor funerals covered from the city coffers.
The funerals of two former councillors, Garnet Mlete and Thandi Ndlovu, were covered by the municipality, which prompted allegations that prices had been inflated by service providers.
ANC councillor Eunice Majola said that while the party accepted the MEC’s advice, it believed itsreasons for funeral cover were valid.
DA councillor Glen McArthur cited the prevailing economic climate as one of the reasons that council should not even have started the process.
Last year, the ANC was criticised for wanting council to pay R371 312 for the funeral expenses of Ndlovu who died in June, and then wanting to have it approved as official policy.
Executive community member Dennis Ntombela said it was important to determine how the money spent on previous funerals would be explained.