Ndola Town Clerk Wisdom Bwalya says all the bank accounts for Ndola City Council are in negatives.

And Bwalya says the council has K600 million debt.

Addressing protesting council workers who have not been paid their three months salary arrears, Bwalya revealed that the council was bankrupt.

“The financial position has been a contributing factor for non-payment of workers’ salaries. The local authority is owed about K100m and council will be vigilant in collecting arrears in order to ensure that its workers are paid. The council is faced with a lot of issues which management is working on to ensure that workers get their salary arrears,” Bwalya said.

“Some casual workers have not been paid for 14 months. Our strategy is to ensure that as council receives money, payments start with junior workers up to the top most.”

He said management would have to retrench.

“Management will be making difficult decisions to ensure that it cuts down on the work force as the total of permanent and casual workers was 1300. For this reason those on contracts won’t have their contracts renewed once they come to end to help manage council better,” Bwalya said.

And Bwalya revealed that the council was in K600 million debt.

“Council has about 50 court cases on illegal land allocations, 115 unpaid retirees, over K100 million NAPSA arrears and K500 million owed to insurance companies,” said Bwalya.