South Africa’s municipal debt jumped about R4-billion from R31,8-billion in 2002 to R35,9-billion in 2003, while figures for 2004 are not yet available, said Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi.
The figures released on Wednesday show that Durban/eThekwini — once a shining light of budgetary prudence — has grown its debt from R2,8-billion to R3,2-billion in the metropolitan city between 2002 and 2003. That makes it the most indebted city in the country.
The figures arise from a reply to a question from Freedom Front Plus Member of Parliament Pieter Groenewald.
Mufamadi provided figures for the total outstanding debt in the 20 largest local authoritieswhich amounted to R11,6-billion at the end of the 2002 financial year.
This, however, has risen to R12,8-billion in 2003.
Mufamadi said he could provide no response to questions about debt levels in 2004 (at the end of the financial year 2003/04), as “no completed annual financial statements and audit reports” were available for all the municipalities.
“These are currently under consideration,” he reported.
The City of Cape Town’s debt at 2002 stood at R1,82-billion, but dropped to R1,76-billion by the end of the financial year 2003. It carried the second largest amount of debt for any city in 2002, but this slot was taken by Tshwane/Pretoria in 2003.
Giving an unqualified audit opinion, the auditor general noted that in eThekwini/Durban there had been inadequate provision for bad debts as well as
“doubt on collectability”.
The AG gave a similar finding with regard to Cape Town but gave it a disclaimer audit opinion.
Tshwane/Pretoria notched up a debt of R1,3-billion in 2002 but this rose to R1,8-billion in 2003. Ekurhuleni metro’s debt dropped from R1,19-billion to R866-million in this time.
The City of Johannesburg notched up R709-million in debt in 2002 but this rose to R1,5-billion by 2003.
Debt levels in Gauteng’s municipalities rose from a collective R4,3-billion in 2002 to R5,3-billion in 2003.
Free State’s debt levels rose from R761-million to R1,16-billion in this time, while KwaZulu Natal’s debt levels rose from R4,1-billion to R4,6-billion.
Debt levels in the Northern Cape have risen to R619-million from R542-million, while in the North West, debt levels have risen from R712-million to R840-million.
Debt levels in Mpumalanga have risen from R595-million to R610-million.
Only three provinces reduced their debt in the two years under consideration.
Western Cape debt levels dropped from to R2,66-billion to R2,65-billion in this time, while in Limpopo the figure has dropped to R370-million from R467-million.
In the Eastern Cape debt levels fell slightly from R1,69-billion to R1,67-billion. – I-Net Bridge