The national Government has come under fire in Parliament from local councils, which say tons of legislation has been approved in the past five years, giving them loads of extra work but no additional finance to do it.
Nomusa Dube, mayor of Durban's north-central local council, made the point on behalf on the SA Local Government Association (Salga) during a debate on Friday in the National Council of Provinces on President Thabo Mbeki's mid-term review.
The "equitable share" of national revenue allocated to local government was "surely not adequate to meet the challenges and constitutional requirements of local government".
An urgent review of this equitable share was needed, Dube said.
Provincial government had the constitutional responsibility to strengthen municipalities.
Another critical factor that hit municipal finances hard was "unfunded mandates" given to local government by the national and provincial governments.
"In the past five years we have witnessed the passing of lots of legislation that required municipal authorities to perform certain functions not budgeted for by either the municipality or the national Government," Dube said.