Durban — The DA said Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Sihle Zikalala needed to ensure that provincial government departments settle the outstanding municipal R792 million debt without further delay.
DA spokesperson on Cogta, Martin Meyer, said the escalating free-loading crisis was allowed to take place under former premier Zikalala.
Meyer said Zikalala must now deal with this and engage with errant departments and ensure that the massive debts were settled so that services could be rendered to the people of the province.
“The figure revealed as a result of written parliamentary replies to questions by the DA is for the period April 2021 to January 2022, and includes basic services such as water, electricity, sewage and refuse. The DA is appalled that, while our municipalities are failing and 34 out of 53 are classified as being in financial distress, provincial government departments owe such vast sums,” said Meyer.
He said the eThekwini Metro was the worst affected by the non-payments, with a monumental R573m outstanding. Here is a list of the adversely affected municipalities:
- Msunduzi Municipality – R86.9m
- Zululand District Municipality – R46.8m
- Umhlathuze Municipality – R18.3m
- Umgungundlovu District Municipality– R15.8m
- Nquthu Municipality – R12.9m
Meyer said the replies further indicated that R288m of the total debt was older than 60 days, R362m was older than 120 days and R60.2m was older than 150 days.
He said the following departments were the biggest culprits when it came to non-payment.
- KZN Education – R468m outstanding. This while eThekwini is owed R372m, Msunduzi R44.3m, Umgungundlovu R15.8m and Ugu R7.5m.
- KZN Public Works – R255m outstanding. This while the department only provided a 30-60 day debt analysis in response to the DA’s questions.
- KZN Human Settlements – R55.5m outstanding, of which an astounding R54.7m is older than 120 days.
- KZN EDTEA – R8.7m outstanding, of which the Ithala Development Finance Corporation owes R6m.
“Municipalities in this province are in dire straits as a result of the floods that took place earlier this year. They have also been told that they will only receive limited financial help, and that they will have to reprioritise their budgets to pay for damages. The provincial government has the means to help them simply by paying its bills,” said Meyer.
He added that in eThekwini, the estimate to fix the infrastructure damage are R308m. By settling its R573m account, the provincial government would more than cover this amount.
He said another glaring example was Msunduzi. Last week, the mayor and city manager told the SA Human Rights Commission that the cause of constant water and electricity outages was that the municipality did not have the money for necessary replacements and maintenance. The R86.9m owed by provincial government departments would go a long way to assist in fixing the capital city’s ailing infrastructure.
“Departments also have the ability to bring some relief to the people of Newcastle, a town with an unfunded budget that owes Eskom and water boards millions of rand. If the government would only settle its debt of R6.5m. The DA will continue to pressure MEC Zikalala to do the right thing. KZN’s government departments must pay their bills just like everyone else,” he said.
Daily News