Metropolitan municipalities were owed a total of R30,3-billion as at March 31 2009, the National Treasury said on Friday.
This was according to its third quarter local government budget statement, which covers revenues and expenditure for the first nine months of the 2008/09 financial year, which ended March 31 2009.
The amount owed to metropolitan municipalities was an increase of R3,7-billion or 13,8% from the same period the previous year.
”The City of Johannesburg is still owed the largest amount at R10,7-billion.
”It is followed by Ekurhuleni at R6,7-billion and eThekwini and Cape Town at approximately R4,2-billion each,” the National Treasury said.
Consumer debts owed to secondary cities amounted to R10,7-billion as at March 31 2008.
They had increased by 12,5% or R1,2-billion from the same period last year, the National Treasury added.
In all instances consumer debtors over 90 days constituted a very large proportion of what was owed to municipalities.
In the case of the secondary cities it was R8,6-billion or 80,1% of the total amount outstanding.
According to the National Treasury, the creditor age analysis showed that Mpumalanga had the highest percentage of creditors outstanding for more than 90 days at 64,5%, followed by Northern Cape at 42,5%.
Eastern Cape, Free State and North West ranged between 20% to 30% for creditors outstanding for more than 90 days, while Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Limpopo lay between 0% and 4%.
”This indicates that municipalities in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape are experiencing difficulties in paying their creditors, which is probably due to serious cash flow problems,” the National Treasury said. — Sapa