South Africa’s municipalities were owed R24,3-billion nationally in outstanding service tariffs in September last year, according to figures tabled before Parliament’s provincial and local government portfolio committee on Tuesday.
This amount is likely to have grown considerably since then. Provincial and local government department senior adviser Daniel Manyindo told MPs that in the case of about one third of the country’s municipalities, ”service debt is growing at a rate of greater than 20% per year”.
”(A further) 37% of municipalities’ services debt is growing at a rate of greater than 10% per year.” He was briefing members on the outcomes of a recently-held ”Municipal Viability Indaba”, called by Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi to determine the extent of the problems facing municipalities.
According to figures presented by Manyindo, the highest level of service debt in September 2002 was in Gauteng. The province’s municipalities were owed R12,2-billion, about half the national total.
The figure for KwaZulu-Natal was R3,1-billion; the Western Cape service debt was R2,5-billion. An analysis of the services for which money was owed showed 26% was for outstanding water accounts, 24% for rates and taxes, 16% for electricity, 15% for ”other”, 11% for sewage and sanitation, and eight percent for refuse removal.
Manyindo said a ”Municipal Revenue Enhancement Programme” was one of the indaba’s outcomes. Among other things, this was aimed at ”improved and sustained revenue collection (and) alleviation of causes of service debt”.
According to Manyindo’s briefing documents, a ”Delivery Calendar” showing ”project/initiative initiation progress and roll-out” dates is still being drawn up.
No completion dates or targets for the new programme were presented at Tuesday’s briefing. – Sapa