This is according to the minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Zweli Mkhize. Addressing the South African Local Government Association’s council of mayors earlier on Wednesday, Mkhizwe appealed to mayors throughout the country to ensure that their municipalities do not only provide adequate services to communities and find means to generate revenue but contribute to economic growth in the country. This, as the majority of municipalities in the country, are listed as dysfunctional in the Auditor-General’s latest report. Coupled with this, they owe Eskom and water boards billions, they are plagued by high vacancy rates in senior management positions and failure to collect revenue. Mkhize says his department is focused on improving the state of municipalities throughout the country and dealing with municipal debts, among others.

Municipalities in the country are cited as one of the major contributors to Eskom’s financial woes. The debt owed to the power utility has reached over R17 billion and continues to grow.

Mkhize says corruption at municipal level is another challenge that the department is also focused on and urged all mayors in attendance to ensure that they deal with reports of fraud and corruption at their municipalities.

He further alluded that additional technical support teams are going to be deployed to more municipalities during the course of the year. This comes after he dispatched teams consisting of engineers, town planners, and provincial managers to various provinces last year in August. The teams are expected to help stabilise municipalities, help them improve infrastructure, find means to generate income and overall improve their service delivery. The troubled Maluti-A-Phofung, Mafube, Masilonyana, and Letsemeng Local Municipalities in the Free State are amongst some of those benefiting from the technical support.

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