DA calls on COGTA Minister to recover R20bn debt owed by government departments to municipalities
4 October 2019
The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes the call by Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, that municipalities must pay the billions of unpaid electricity bills to Eskom.
The DA believes that any action that brings municipalities, which have failed to pay Eskom to book is laudable.
However it would be disingenuous if that was to be done without confronting the issue of non-payment to these municipalities by a number of government departments. Many municipalities have been struggling to meet their obligations to Eskom, due to ever-increasing debt that is owed to them by various consumers including government departments.
In its recent presentation, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), reported that 5% of the debt owed to municipalities are from government departments - this amounts is around R20 billion.
The DA therefore calls on Minister Dlamini-Zuma and her department to recover debt owed by government department to municipalities. The debt owed by municipalities to Eskom is close to R20 billion, the debt owed by government departments to municipalities is also around R20 billion – here the math is simple once government departments start paying municipalities what is due to them, municipalities will thus be in a far healthier financial position to pay their Eskom bills, and deliver much-needed services.
Government departments are the biggest defaulters of municipal debts, and are thwarting municipalities’ ability to service the Eskom debt. This is a major cause for concern and should be treated with the contempt it deserves.
The practical solution to get these municipalities to pay their Eskom debt is to get government departments to pay them.
As the DA, we will ensure that we raise this matter of non-payment to municipalities at the next portfolio meeting and will ask Minister Dlamini-Zuma about the steps she has taken to recover money owed by the various government departments.
We need to discourage the ‘growing culture’ of non-payment.
The role each and every South Africans can play to lessen the burden of debt faced by our municipalities can never be understated. However, we cannot only expect indigent communities to pay - while government departments, some businesses, politicians, mayors and members of parliament fail to pay for their municipal accounts.
When money has in fact been collected from residents, we must hold municipal managers accountable for non-payment of accounts.
Issued by Haniff Hoosen, DA Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, 4 October 2019
