Durban - The Ladysmith-based Alfred Duma Local Municipality says it is struggling to recover a R430 million rates and refuse removal debt from consumers.
Municipal manager Sibusisiwe Ngiba has revealed that the municipality is owed nearly R430m in rates arrears, saying that it was engaging Eskom in an attempt to get it to switch off the electricity supply to the owing residents who stay in Ezakheni, as a means to enforce payment.
Asked for comment yesterday, Eskom distanced itself from the issue, saying it was unable to intervene on behalf of the troubled municipality.
“Eskom enters into a contract with a customer and only when the terms of the contract are not adhered to, will Eskom take action. As such Eskom is unable to intervene on behalf of third parties,” the power utility said.
Addressing Parliament’s portfolio committee on local government, Ngiba also revealed that various government departments were owing the local authority about R162m.
According to the South African Local Government Association (Salga), the combined R20.1 billion consumer debt facing KZN municipalities included, among others, R13bn owed by households, R3.6bn owed by the commercial sector and R1.7bn owed by organs of state, and an unspecified sector that owed R1.6bn.
At R5.4bn, the property rates debt facing the whole province was the second highes,t after the R7.2bn owed in respect of the water service, said Sabelo Gwala, Salga’s director of operations.
“Revenue raised from water services is still proving to be the most difficult, followed by property rates,” he said, in his presentation to the committee.
Led by chairperson Faith Muthambi, Parliamentarians expressed concern about the issue of a high consumer debt facing municipalities, specifically the family of municipalities within the parent uThukela District, who were recently fingered by the auditor-general for unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
The debt had a potentially adverse impact on service delivery and the sustainability of local government in the province, Parliamentarians said.
“We have a challenge in terms of collection of rates and waste removal charges. Ezakheni is an Eskom licensed (electricity supply) area. In terms of collecting rates there, it’s a big problem because we are not in charge in terms of electricity there,” said Ngiba.
“In terms of rates, that area is owing us close to R430 million. We have tried to engage with Eskom in terms of assisting us in ensuring that the residents there do pay our rates by using Eskom to switch off their electricity in that regard (sic). However, it is difficult because ourselves and Eskom, we are two separate entities.
“Our engagements are still proceeding,” Ngiba said, adding that as part of a newly developed revenue enhancement strategy, people were being appointed to go door-to-door to encourage residents to settle their debts.
She said that as a result of the door-to-door campaign, payments were beginning to trickle in, but the majority of the debtors did not honour the payment arrangements that were made.
“The challenge is that we cannot force them because the area is not ours in terms of the supply of electricity,” she said.
The municipality had approached the provincial Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) department to facilitate meetings with errant government departments.
“The provincial Cogta department is assisting us by facilitating meetings with the various government departments. The debts owed by government departments, as well as in terms of rates, are the two areas (sic) that are problematic,” she said.
The Mercury