The accumulated outstanding debt on December 31 2002 for the 284 South African municipalities was R24,6-billion, according to Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi.
In reply to a question from Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Mannetjies Grobler, he said in a written reply that the local municipalities — known as the category B municipalities — had accumulated debt to the tune of R6,8-billion.
District municipalities had accumulated debts of R800-million — the so-called category C municipalities — and the category A municipalities (unicities) had accumulated about R17-billion in debt.
In reply to another question, Mufamadi said R1,4-billion of this was owed by state departments to municipalities.
He said national government had invested R252-million in the current financial year to support the revenue collection enhancement programme for municipalities in South Africa.
Asked if a decision had been taken to write off any outstanding debts of local authorities in the last two financial years, he said no decision of this kind had been taken. – I-Net Bridge