The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls for dissolving of Council and appointment of Administrators in five Mpumalanga municipalities that for years have been failing to meet their financial responsibilities and mandates.
In August of 2018, the MEC of CoGTA at the time, Speedy Mashilo and the Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane have both intervened with a Financial Recovery Plan in the following struggling municipalities: Govan Mbeki, Emalahleni, Thaba Chweu, Lekwa and the City of Mbombela.
These plans which were drafted dealt with both aspects of revenue streams; namely, revenue generation strategies and creditor repayment. However, despite being adopted and implemented by local councils, the situations in Emalahleni and Govan Mbeki local municipalities worsened whilst being under a provincial intervention because of lack of political will. To date, Thaba Chweu, Lekwa and the City of Mbombela are not doing any better either.
Looking at Emalahleni at the end of December 2018 Eskom was owed R2.3 billion and the municipality was owed R3.8 billion by consumer debtors. Despite being under the provincial intervention, these amounts increased substantially in the space of one year to owing Eskom R3.5 billion and having being owed R4.6 billion for services at the end of December 2019.
The situation is similar in Govan Mbeki local municipality where the municipality owed Eskom R1 billion and was owed R1.4 billion for services which were provided at the end of December 2018. This increased to owing Eskom R1.7 billion and having being owed R1.96 billion for services which the municipality provided at the end of December 2019.
It is clear that action is needed in these municipalities and that by waiting we are only worsening the financial crisis in these municipalities. These municipalities had two years to give effect to the Financial Recovery Plan, but there was no meaningful engagement.
The DA calls on current CoGTA MEC Mandla Msibi to urgently appoint administrators and place these non-viable municipalities under administration in terms of Section 139 (5) (b) of the South African Constitution. Failing to do so will to lead to a complete breakdown of service delivery in the affected municipalities.