SEDIBENG.- Although the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) is among the municipalities whose July 2026 equitable share transfers were temporarily withheld by the National Treasury for failing to comply with the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and related regulations, the municipality says it is not among those that have failed to pay employees’ pension fund contributions.

Last week, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana revealed that 69 struggling municipalities have failed to remit roughly R1.7b in worker pension contributions, prompting National Treasury to temporarily freeze R13.5b in equitable share transfers.

We previously were unable to pay because of attachments in the previous years, but currently our payments are up to date.

ELM spokesperson, Makhosonke Sangweni, acknowledged that ELM previously could not pay the funds but is now up to date.

“We previously were unable to pay because of attachments in the previous years, but currently our payments are up to date, and we are not one of the municipalities that are not paying. You can request SALGA and others to verify this.”

Thousands of municipal employees in the country could face bleak futures concerning their retirement benefits after some municipalities failed to transfer R1.7b in pension contributions deducted from workers’ salaries.