Note to Broadcasters: Please find attached soundbite in English by Soret Viljoen
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Tswaing Local Municipality has rejected the 2025/26 Adjustment Budget tabled in Council on 27 February 2026, as it fails to address the municipality’s deepening financial crisis and ongoing collapse of basic service delivery.
Despite Tswaing Local Municipality being placed under Section 139(5) intervention in August 2021, and the appointment of a fourth Provincial Treasury financial expert by the MEC for Finance, Kenetswe Mosenogi, there is still no credible indication that the municipality is on a path to financial recovery.
The municipality remains severely cash strapped. On 25 February 2026, Tswaing failed to pay staff salaries on time, with payments only being made a week later.
During this period, essential municipal services effectively came to a standstill because the municipality had no funds available to purchase diesel for vehicles used to pump water, deliver sanitation services, or remove refuse.
Despite these realities, the adjustment budget was tabled in Council without a progress report on the implementation of the already approved 2025/26 budget funding plan. This raises serious concerns about transparency and the municipality’s ability to implement its own financial recovery commitments.
The municipality’s financial obligations continue to escalate. Tswaing currently owes nearly R300 million to Eskom, yet approximately 1 800 households in Ward 14 continue to receive free electricity.
At the same time, prepaid electricity meters in Extensions 7 and 8 have reportedly been running freely for nearly three years without any intervention by the municipality to disconnect the supply or replace the meters with tamper-resistant smart meters.
Statutory obligations are also not being met. The municipality owes more than R50 million to the Municipal Pension Fund, placing employees’ retirement security at risk.
In addition, five councillors from the 2016–2021 term have taken the municipality to court over unpaid financial obligations. As a result, a notice of the sale in execution of movable municipal property, as ordered by the Regional Court, was published in local newspapers around 8 February 2026.
The situation is further worsened by a dysfunctional accounts department. Residents are frequently billed based on incorrect meter readings, accounts are not consistently issued monthly, and account disputes are not resolved within the 30-day period required by the Municipal Systems Act (Act 32 of 2000). These failures have resulted in repeated and often unlawful electricity disconnections affecting residents.
The DA rejected the adjustment budget because a municipality with a genuinely funded budget should be able to pay salaries on time, meet its third-party obligations, and deliver basic services to residents.
A funded budget cannot exist only on paper while the municipality collapses in reality.
Until Tswaing presents a credible plan to restore financial discipline, stabilise governance, and ensure that residents receive basic services, the DA will continue to oppose budgets that create the illusion of financial stability while the municipality remains in crisis.
Residents of Tswaing deserve a municipality that manages public funds responsibly and delivers services reliably.