A reply to a DA parliamentary question shows that government departments owe the country's metropolitan municipalities millions of rands for municipal services. The five municipalities, namely, Cape Town, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, City of Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay, were collectively owed almost R1 billion by government departments as of May 2008.

It is simply unacceptable that government departments should be contributing to the massive problem of unpaid debt that local councils face and that results in basic services being denied to many.  

The rates paid for municipal services are one of the major sources of revenue for municipalities. The failure of government departments to pay for municipal services undermines the quality of service delivery to the public. It is through the prompt payment of municipal services that municipalities are able to provide clean water and street lights to the public and maintain local infrastructure.

A breakdown of monies owed by government departments to five metros shows that;

The eThekwini municipality is owed the highest debt by government departments with a total of R402 089 382.

The City of Cape Town is second with R234 000 000, followed by Ekurhuleni with R163 480 371.

The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality has the lowest figure with R21 599 482 (this is due to the fact that the municipality only provided information for six months).

 The City of Tshwane did not provide information of its debts.

Collectively the five metros are owed R898 million by government

The situation is likely worse in local municipalities. Municipalities throughout the country are plagued by high levels of non-payment for services. Many of them are struggling to deliver quality services to the public due to insufficient revenue to finance these services. This often compels them either to exhaust their limited resources further by initiating legal proceedings to recoup the monies owed to them, or to operate on thin budgets by writing off the debts.

For its part, the government needs to be a shining example of prompt payment for services, instead of entrenching the culture of non-payment. It is unacceptable for government departments to waste taxpayers' money on useless activities such as budget parties when they are failing to pay their debts to municipalities.

Statement issued by Willem Doman MP, Democratic Alliance spokesperson on provincial & local government, August 10 2008