(1) Listed below are municipalities with payment arrangements, however these municipalities have defaulted at some point. These key defaulting municipalities’ combined contribution to overdue municipal debt is 87%.
Table 1: Municipalities with valid payment arrangements, as at 31 January 2017
Table 1 continued
(2)(a) Section 139(5) states that if a municipality, in financial crisis, breaches its obligation to provide basic services or admits that it is unable to meet its financial commitments, the relevant provincial executive authority must impose a financial recovery plan. The Minister can only intervene in terms of Section 139(7) if the provincial executive authority cannot adequately exercise its power to perform the functions referred to in sub-sections 4 or 5. The national executive authority must then intervene.
National and provincial government is obligated, in terms of Section 154 of the Constitution, to support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities in managing their own affairs and exercising their own power to carry out functions. In holding municipalities accountable, CoGTA as part of the Inter-Ministerial Task Team on Eskom debt, has been in discussion with Premiers, MECs and Mayors. The Department has had engagements with various stakeholders to resolve the issue of Eskom debt. The following agreements were reached:
(3) Based on Eskom’s interaction with municipalities and the Inter-Ministerial Task team (DPE/CoGTA/NT) during 2016, the following common challenges were identified as contributing to the municipalities not honouring their financial obligations with Eskom:
i) Financial
ii) Technical
iii) Legislative Framework