This is the bleak picture revealed by the Director-General of the Department of Planning, Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr Tsakani Ngomane, when he addressed Parliament’s Standing Committee on Appropriations.
This debt owed to municipalities by government, businesses and households is on a constant upward trajectory, increasing from R93.4 billion in 2014 and R84.2 billion in 2013, and showing no sign of making a recovery.
Local government is at the coalface of service delivery, and thus the financial wellbeing of municipalities is critical to the delivery of basic services such as clean water, electricity, sanitation, and waste removal.
According to Malcolm Figg, the DA’s member in the Finance Portfolio Committee, he will taking on the Chairperson of Parliament’s Appropriations Committee, Paul Mashatile, requesting he see to it that the Committee summon Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Pravin Gordhan, to appear and outline what measures will be taken to recover this debt, and how this will be prevented in the future.
In particular, the Minister must address the concerning fact that most of this R100 billion is irrecoverable.
“It is the role of government to ensure the best quality basic services are being delivered to all South Africans. For this to happen, municipalities at local government level must be financially secure and have proper procedures in place to safeguard against financial instability,” said Figg.
