Gauteng local governments are owed R17-billion for unpaid services, provincial minister Qedani Mahlangu said on Thursday.
Mahlangu said, while delivering her budget speech in Johannesburg, that the debt, which was incurred due to unpaid services, was hampering service delivery in the province.
She lashed out at public servants, councillors and businesses that defaulted on payments.
”Defaulting councillors and government employees do not belong in the public service. We all have to lead by example while we advocate for people to pay for services,” Mahlangu said.
”This is a cause for concern because the lack of payment is hampering service delivery.
”Municipalities should enforce their credit-control measures and name and shame defaulters, especially government departments, big businesses and those masquerading as the poorest of the poor,” she said.
Mahlangu said municipal managers had been tasked to monitor the payment levels of their employees in ensuring that public servants ”lead by example”.
Also, she said her department was working and supporting municipalities in developing strategies to deal with local-government debt.
”A financial advisory committee has been set up to assist the department in dealing with the financial challenges facing municipalities,” Mahlangu said.
”I trust that this intervention will help support municipalities to comply with the Municipal Financial Management Act. This will help to turn around municipal finances.”
With a 63% increase to her budget, Mahlangu said the R210-million would be used to upgrade the standard of local municipalities.
”We have allocated R50-million to municipal support to enable them to deliver basic services, improve infrastructure development and become financially viable,” she said.
Key priorities, according to Mahlangu, would be the upgrading of water and sanitation in the province, restructuring of the electricity distribution industry and support for cross-border municipalities that were part of Gauteng.
”We have committed ourselves to eradicate all the 12 332 identified bucket systems by the end of June 2006 in order to give people the dignity they deserve,” Mahlangu said.
”The department will continue to work with the relevant stakeholders and Gauteng municipalities in the restructuring of the Electricity Distribution Industry. While progress has been made in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, there is a need to speed up the process in Pretoria,” she said.
Together with the Department of Housing, Mahlangu said R330-million had been set aside for the Municipal Infrastructure Grant to upgrade ”20 priority townships” in the province.
In dealing with corruption within local government departments, Mahlangu said her department had partnered with the Special Investigations Unit to ”root out bad elements”.
”We have demonstrated our seriousness in dealing with acts of corruption in municipalities such as Emfuleni and Kungwini where senior staff members and councillors have either been fired, suspended or are facing criminal charges,” she said. — Sapa