Councillors, officials not paid salaries due to systems glitch

Councillors and staff of the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality were not paid their salaries on Friday.

Due to the upcoming festive season, councillors and officials were meant to receive their salaries on December 13.

But because some of the city’s systems crashed, the municipality could not pay any of its staff nor service providers who were due to be paid.

The computer problems started about a week ago.

Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said: This challenge has led to glitches in our customer care system, creditors and payroll system.
“This will result in delays with payment of creditors and municipal staff, which would have been paid on December 13.

“IT engineers are currently working around the clock to fix the problem and  replacing the equipment that needs to be installed.

“They will work throughout the day and the weekend if needed and hopefully formatting will take place and the system will be online before Monday,” he said.

Mniki said he hoped to receive an indicator by the end of Friday as to when systems would be back online.

He also urged ratepayers to continue paying their accounts to avoid being in arreas.

The week-long systems crash has affected a number of the city’s departments, including budget and treasury.

Residents who defaulted on their bills have battled to have their prepaid electricity meters unblocked due to the server problem.

The municipality’s credit control policy allows officials to block the prepaid meters of account defaulters until the accounts are settled and a reconnection fee is paid to have the meter unblocked.