Departmental spokesperson, Sello Dithebe, says they hope municipalities will prioritize service delivery.

This follows after municipalities across the province received the first instalment of the Local Government Equitable Share (LGES), amounting to billions.

Equally there has been concern that municipalities - including Kopanong and Masilonyana among others who failed to pay workers’ salaries for months - are eying to use this equitable share to pay for workers.  

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These municipalities previously said they have cash flow challenges, given that revenue collection is low and some residents not being able to pay for services rendered.

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”It is not the first time these municipalities will receive this ,but in this particular instance in the aftermath in particular of the consolidated report of the Auditor General (AG) we are taking a keen interest in ensuring that we turn things around in the province,” he adds.

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Free State municipalities have continued their wasteful spending of taxpayers' money - with irregular expenditure increasing by almost R2 billion.

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According to national departmental spokesperson, Lungi Mtshali, “the total amount of the first tranche transferred to primary bank accounts of all municipalities amounts to R33,9 billion.”

“The LGES allocation will be transferred in three tranches during the current local government’s financial year, which begins in July,” he adds.

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