Durban - Various KwaZulu-Natal government departments will be expected to cough up towards the remuneration of the indunas to resolve years of stand-off over the non-payment of their salaries.
The total amount expected to be paid to the indunas for the 2017/2018 financial year is R252million.
Presenting the R115 billion provincial Budget at the Pietermaritzburg legislature yesterday, Finance MEC Belinda Scott said 50% of the money to pay the induna’s salaries would come from the provincial department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), and other departments would have to fork out the rest.
The province’s more than 3000 indunas have been at
loggerheads with the government over the non-payment of their salaries since President Jacob Zuma signed the proclamation in 2014.
Angered by the stalemate, the indunas threatened to disrupt last year’s local government elections in their areas.
However, the R252m does not include the back-payment, which should be paid dating back to 2014.
Scott said the government would still have to work out how it would find the money for back-payment.
“While this proclamation was signed determining the amounts at which the indunas should be remunerated, no funds were added to the provincial fiscus to pay for this, therefore this remains an unfunded mandate.
“All efforts to secure funding for this unfunded mandate from the national fiscus have failed, and it is clear that the province is expected to deal with this unfunded mandate from within the provincial
fiscus,” said Scott.
She said the government required R252m to pay salaries of indunas in the 2017/2018
financial year.
She said the provincial government had taken a decision that Cogta would fork out 50% of the money while others, with the exception of the “cash-strapped and overburdened departments of education, health and treasurer”, would contribute the balance from their budgets.
Scott said the remuneration of indunas would have a major impact on the provincial fiscus, adding that the matter had to be resolved since the government had been grappling with it for some time.
“The problem emerged when we took over Umzimkhulu from the Eastern Cape, because we also took over headmen (indunas) who were being paid by the Eastern Cape government, and it then sparked a lot of interest among izinduna in KZN,” she said.
Scott could not say how many indunas in KwaZulu-Natal needed to be remunerated, except that of the original 3100 on government records, “a few have died” while others did not qualify for payment as they were public servants.
“As yet, we don’t have the final figure for izinduna,” she said.
KwaZulu-Natal chairman of the National House of Traditional Leaders, Inkosi Phathisizwe Chiliza, welcomed the government’s effort to pay salaries of the indunas, but said the move was long overdue.
“They should have come up with budgets to assist the traditional councils to function, such as paying izinduna and their administration staff,” he said.
Chilizi said the government should make an effort to back pay all of them through consultation with amakhosi.
“They would have to think deep about where they would get the money,” he said.
He said the indunas were an important component in traditional leadership because of their pivotal role of “maintaining or creating peace and stability, social cohesion and family units”.
“They are appointed by amakhosi, but since the government is now paying them, the government should also play a role in their appointment. Izinduna play a much more important role than local government councillors,” he said.
IFP MPL Blessed Gwala said Zuma had made a mistake by proclaiming indunas without allocating their budget.
“The MEC is saying that they would be taking budget from other departments in order to solve the chaos that would result from the government’s failure to pay. It means that they are robbing Peter to pay Paul,” he said.
DA MPL Francois Rodgers said he was concerned about the implication of taking money from other departments.
“This was not a provincial decision, but a national one, and there was no consultation with the province,” he said.
ANC provincial chairman Super Zuma said the government would have to sustain the payment of the indunas.
“This should not be a temporary measure, but a permanent solution.
“This is putting pressure on the province, which is why
we are responding in this manner.
“We have got an obligation as the province to pay izinduna as per proclamation by the president,” he said.
There was no surprise when Scott presented her budget, as she allocated the lion’s share to the most important departments.
Education received R47.47bn, followed by health with R39.5bn.