DURBAN – The KZN Provincial Executive Council resolved yesterday during its first meeting of the year to retain interventions in eight of the province’s municipalities.
The decision comes after the council received a comprehensive report on the state of municipalities under intervention.
These include Mpofana, Msunduzi, Inkosi Langalibalele, UThukela, Umzinyathi, Abaqulusi, Mtubatuba and uMkhanyakude. All the municipalities are under administration.
“The provincial Cabinet has decided it was in the municipalities’ best interests to extend all current interventions, and to enable them to continue receiving support from the entirety of government due to the challenges they face,” said the council.
The council said that these municipalities faced serious financial difficulties, such as unfunded budgets, huge budget deficits, persistent power cut threats from Eskom, infrastructure and service delivery challenges.
“Some are besieged by instability and parallel structures, while others are engaged in perpetual legal battles other than focusing on service delivery,” it said.
The executive council believes that there is a need for the continuation of support to allow the technical experts to turn the situation around in these municipalities, and to refocus them on the basic issues of service delivery.
According to the council, these interventions have been extended until April 30, 2022.
Thereafter, the necessary assessments and review will take place.
“The extended municipal interventions are in the best interests of the citizens who are served by these municipalities and they will benefit from the support of the other spheres of government as prescribed by the Constitution,” said the executive council.
THE MERCURY