This, after the Deputy Minister Parks Tau yesterday appeared before the select committee which also included Human Settlement and Water and Sanitation. Tau, during his briefing, outlined that there is a high need to support municipalities following the Auditor-General’s (AG) damning report. The report on local governance revealed that of the 257 municipalities countrywide, only 18 received a clean audit. The call for provincial Cogta departments to intensify their support to municipalities comes at the time when municipal employees at the Free State’s cash-strapped Maluti-A-Phofung municipality are waiting with bated breath for their July salaries. The municipality has for months been battling to pay salaries and make contributions to third parties.

It is amongst those with the highest Eskom debt in the country. It owes the power utility nearly R3 billion and its water board more than R1.2 billion. The municipality is also amongst the many that grapples to provide basic services to its residents such as refuse collection, water, and electricity. It is listed in the latest AG report as amongst the Free State municipalities that did not submit its financial statements. 

The National Department of Treasury has informed the municipality that it is going to withhold the equitable share and conditional grant payments to the municipality due to its failure to comply with legislative procedures.

The DA in the province has meanwhile, called for the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to intervene at the municipality.

Several other municipalities, including the Bojanala Platinum Municipality in the North West, have reportedly warned staff that they might not get paid this month and they are engaging with national treasury to resolve the matter.

OFM News