Note to Broadcasters: Find linked soundbites in English and Sesotho by Freddy Sonakile MPL
The DA welcomes the latest efforts by the Madibeng Local Municipality to recover government owed debt through its campaign, ‘Operation Patela.’
This comes after the DA raised the alarm on the failures of national and provincial government departments to service its ballooning water, electricity and rates and taxes debt owed to municipalities. Government departments owe North West Municipalities more than R1,8 billion in unpaid bills as at August 2022, debt that could top R2 billion to date and money desperately needed by municipalities to deliver crucial services.
Debt recovery has proven successful under the leadership of DA mayors, much like the coalition government in the City of Tshwane through the metro’s #TshwaneYaTima campaign, and we are happy to see similar gains made in Madibeng.
According to Madibeng Mayor, Cllr Douglas Maimane, the municipality has collected about R30 million during the festive season alone.
North West municipalities are in a dire financial state which negatively impact basic service delivery throughout communities. We can no longer allow cadre deployed Municipal Managers who have little to no understanding of their financial responsibilities in terms of the law to plunge municipalities further into ruin.
The DA will continue to evaluate the implementation of Sections 97 and 98 of the Municipal Systems Act, which deals with the credit control and debt collection policies and municipal by-laws.
We will further encourage Municipal Managers to implement the disconnection of services to government departments due to non-payment.