The DA in Lekwa has written to the MEC of CoGTA, Mandla Msibi requesting that he provides the municipality’s Section 139 assessment reports. These reports will indicate measures taken by provincial government to ensure that there is financial stability, and will also show the adopted recovery plan aimed at securing the municipality’s ability to meet its obligations.
In May 2021, the department implemented this section in Lekwa after it became evident that the municipality was unable to fulfil its executive obligations in terms of the constitution and legislation. Therefore, provincial executive decided to intervene by putting together a team of administrators tasked with ensuring the fulfilment of these obligations.
Two years the later, one would expect improvement, however, Lekwa is still listed amongst the dysfunctional municipalities in the province. The municipality’s financial status is at its worst, last month, they defaulted on staff and councillor salaries. These payments came in a few days late. It is alleged that the municipal coffers were sitting empty.
As a result, businesses with major accounts had to come to the rescue and service their monthly accounts, allowing the municipality to eventually process payments.
Revenue collection remains a challenge, despite the intervention of National Treasury. The municipality was tasked with rolling out smart meters to enhance revenue.
It has now emerged that this project has stopped before its completion due to the alleged maladministration and corruption in Lekwa. The Municipality is sitting with a financial deficit of over R1billion. They are over indebted and consistently defaulting on creditors such as SARS, ESKOM and Rand Water.
These challenges can be attributed to improper leadership behaviours amongst other factors in municipality which raises eyebrows on the CoGTA intervention. Given the seriousness of the problems in Lekwa, the DA is of the view that, an evaluation and feedback report from the CoGTA department would be appropriate.