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As of 31 March 2011, local governments owed R167 million to the Auditor-General, of which R68 million was more than 120 days overdue. As a member of the Standing Committee on the Auditor-General (SCoAG), this was revealed to me by the office of the A-G in reply to a question I submitted to it.

This is a damning indictment of the ability of municipalities to manage their finances. More than that, it threatens to diminish the capacity of the Auditor-General to carry out its work effectively.

According to the A-G, twenty-five local governments were responsible for some R36,8 million in “bad debt provision”, meaning they had no prospects of paying their debts on time. And the total debt owed by the local governments to the A-G climbed from R105m in 2009 to R167m in 2011.

While virtually every single one of the country’s 283 municipalities owed some sort of debt to the A-G, only 25,7% of that debt was less than 30 days old. The municipalities of 4 provinces, including the Western Cape were typically able to pay off their debts within the first 30 days, with the debt load decreasing thereafter.

But the municipalities in the other five provinces – Eastern Cape, Free State, Northern Cape, Limpopo and North West – had increasing debts after 30 days, steadily rising even after 120 days. Indeed, a massive 40,7% of the money owed to the A-G – R68m – was more than 120 days old. This shows a critical lack of capacity by many of our largely rural municipalities to pay their debts on time or at all.

Some of the worst offenders with over 120 days arrears were:

- Naledi (NW) – R4,2 million
- Kopanong (FS) – R4 million
- Lekwa-Teemane (NW) – R3,8 million
- Kouga (EC) – R3 million
- Port St. Johns (EC) – R3 million

The failure of ANC municipalities to manage their finances impacts on every South African that goes without basic sanitation, clean water and electricity. Now they are hindering the Auditor-General’s important work too.