The report is a critical view of the local government fiscal framework titled 'The end of the road' and was compiled by researchers Dr Tracy Ledger and Mahlatse Rampedi.

While the report notes the grim yearly findings of the Auditor-General in his inspection of municipal finance management, it calls for a legislative shift that may be the only rescue of the dire situation.

It states that at some point there must be an acknowledgement that the real problems in municipalities are structural and the continued investment of funds on capacity building is a pointless exercise.

Close to R100 million was spent on consultants in the financial year 2018 to 2019 to address accounting failures in municipalities but this has not yielded any positive results.

Dr Ledger argued that both structural and organisational factors contributed to the poor financial and operational outcomes of municipalities yet little attention was paid to the structural impediments.

"We can't have a fiscal framework that can only be financed if we set the basic cost of services like electricity and water so high that households cannot afford to pay for it."

The report further states that the most important contributing structural factor in its assessment is the overarching fiscal framework within which municipalities are located.

Eyewitness News