DURBAN - UMKHANYAKUDE District Municipality, near Pongola in northern KZN, which has lurched from crisis to crisis, is at risk of being dissolved, after it failed to pass its annual budget last month.
The EMadlangeni Municipality, near Newcastle, also failed to pass its budget by June 30, as mandated by law.
The new 2021 to 2022 financial year started on July 1.
It was not immediately clear why the municipalities failed to pass the budgets. Both are under administration, therefore dissolving the councils could be the likely next step.
In a statement, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Sipho Hlomuka expressed his concern at the failure by the uMkhanyakude and eMadlangeni councils to pass their respective budgets, as required by law.
Hlomuka said he would apprise the provincial executive of the appropriate measures to remedy the situation in terms of the Constitution.
Hlomuka has also directed the mayors of the two municipalities to explain the reasons for them not passing the budgets.
Cogta said the failure to pass the budgets was a serious transgression, that will have a huge and negative impact on the municipalities’ ability to deliver services because they cannot spend without permission from the MEC of Finance.
Cogta was was cagey on its next move, saying the law allows for many corrective measures. It said those measures included dissolving the council.
MEC Hlomuka emphasised that the department is committed to acting in the interest of the communities of eMadlangeni and uMkhanyakude, who now face a serious risk of their municipalities being unable to function.
THE MERCURY