The new South African Local Government Association President, Bheki Stofile, has called on municipalities to increase their revenue collection as most of the households, businesses and government departments have failed to pay for services.
The National Treasury had said a few months ago that the municipal debt was sitting at more than R120 billion.
Stofile, who was elected on Friday at the end of the Salga conference in Cape Town, made the call for the increase in revenue collection.
Tshwane metro and the City of Johannesburg have been cracking down on businesses and other people who have been failing to pay for services. Tshwane has recovered more than R500 million.
President Cyril Ramaphosa also addressed the conference early in the week where he warned that the number of dysfunctional municipalities has increased.
“A report prepared by the Department of Cooperative Governance in June last year noted that only 5% of our country’s municipalities were financially stable.
Others are in financial distress, with insufficient revenue to meet their expenses. Some 64 municipalities are considered to be dysfunctional. This dysfunction is rooted in poor governance, weak institutional capacity, poor financial management, corruption and political instability.
By June last year, some 26 municipalities had been placed under administration. This number has now risen to 31 municipalities under administration. We continue to hear about municipalities under threat of administration.
Many residents have lost faith in the ability of local government to meet their needs. So too have many investors,” said Ramaphosa.
Other than Stofile Buffalo City mayor Xola Phakati, Flora Maboa-Boltman, the mayor of Govan Mbeki municipality in Mpumalanga, and Xanthea Limberg of the City of Cape Town were elected as his three deputies.
POLITICAL BUREAU