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Local government has only become more dysfunctional in the new financial year, according to a report by National Treasury tabled to Parliament's Appropriations Committee this week. This state of dysfunction was laid bare in the following facts:

• 17% of all municipalities are considered to be in crisis;
• 44% of all municipalities had tabled unfunded budgets (budgets that they do not have the income or resources to pay for);
• 59% of all municipalities are bankrupt and insolvent;
• 68% of all municipalities are in financial distress; and
• 85% of all municipalities meet the MFMA criteria for financial problems and crises.

Municipal debt to Eskom has ballooned to R39.8 billion Rands, while municipal debt to water boards has now reached R15.1 billion. A key cause of this is a failure by municipalities to collect revenue, with consumers owing a whopping R255.5 billion to municipalities – including government departments and entities.

Previous reports have shown that the ANC has proven itself utterly inept at managing municipalities, and this report is a reflection of how the ANC has run local government and service delivery into the ground. Long term DA municipalities are stable, viable and delivering services, while recently DA-run and coalition municipalities are improving leaps and bounds from the cesspool that the ANC have left behind through years of cadre deployment, corruption, mismanagement and political instability.

The DA will be asking questions to National Treasury about what interventions it is making into municipalities and why these have failed to yield results – however, the answer is obvious: ANC politicians at local level cannot stop feeding from the trough. We will see if National Treasury has the courage to make this admission.

Issued by Ashor Sarupen MP - DA Shadow Minister for Appropriations