Pretoria – The process of paying councillors’ once-off gratuity payments has begun.
The gratuity is applicable to councillors who did not return to their positions after the 3 August Local Government Elections.
The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG) on Wednesday said it has received 4 910 applications from former councillors, who are eligible to receive a once-off gratuity payment.
The department has urged all those who have not yet submitted their applications to do so urgently. It thanked those applicants who submitted their documents on time.
The payments are based on the pensionable salary of each councillor.
“It is important to note that those eligible would be councillors that served a minimum of 24 consecutive months and whose term came to an end from 1 April 2016 onwards,” said DCoG.
It said the payment process is complex and very slow, and is subject to verification by the department.
The payment process includes:
- The calculation of the gross gratuity payment, based on the formula that was recommended by the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers;
- Obtaining individual tax directives from the South African Revenue Service;
- Deduction of the individual tax obligation for a recipient from the gross gratuity payment; and
- Payment of the net gratuity into the nominated bank account of the former councillor.
The department anticipates that the payment process will be finalised during the first quarter of 2017.
In the event where an eligible councillor has passed on, such gratuity must be paid to the beneficiaries or estate of such a councillor.
“Every effort is being made to process and finalise the payments as soon as possible. All applicants are therefore requested to be patient and allow the department sufficient time to follow due process so as not to compromise compliance requirements in this regard,” said the department. - SAnews.gov.za
