Please find attached soundbite in Afrikaans by Theo Venter.
Please find attached soundbite in English by Theo Venter.
- National Treasury has temporarily withheld the JB Marks equitable share due to serious financial governance failures.
- The DA has consistently warned that the adoption unfunded budgets and mounting Eskom debt have pushed the municipality to the brink of total collapse.
- Residents deserve a financially responsible municipality that protects essential services and spends public money wisely towards improved service delivery.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes National Treasury’s decision on 7 July 2026 to temporarily withhold the equitable share allocation to the JB Marks Local Municipality following persistent and serious non-compliance matters with the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).
This decision confirms what the DA has consistently warned about: the financial position of JB Marks has become increasingly unsustainable due to persistent financial management, the adoption of unfunded budgets, and a continued failure to address mounting debt.
For several years, the DA has cautioned that the municipality’s growing debt to Eskom posed a significant threat to its financial sustainability. That debt has now escalated to approximately R843 million, while the ANC-led Council has continued to approve unfunded budgets.
Unfunded budgets severely compromise the ability of municipalities to deliver on key infrastructure and service delivery requirements because the municipality can’t fund all the programmes it budgeted for due to an over-estimation of revenue collection.
The equitable share contributes approximately R795 million to the municipality’s annual budget, almost 30% of its total revenue. The temporary withholding of these funds should serve as a serious wake-up call for the ANC-led municipality to urgently restore financial discipline and comply with the law.
National Treasury’s intervention follows persistent concerns relating to poor financial governance, including the continued failure to implement effective consequence management, recurring unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, weak accountability mechanisms, and inadequate implementation of the Auditor-General’s recommendations.
The DA also remains concerned that, despite the municipality’s deteriorating financial position, the ANC-led coalition steamrolled salary increases for senior management through Council despite the DA’s objections, while residents continue to experience declining service delivery and growing financial instability.
National Treasury’s intervention, implemented in terms of Section 216(2) of the Constitution and Section 38 of the MFMA, is not merely an administrative process. It is a clear indication that the municipality’s financial situation has reached a point where urgent and decisive corrective action is required.
Municipalities that repeatedly ignore the provisions of the MFMA and sound financial management practices place essential services, local businesses, creditors, and residents at risk.
Sound financial management is not optional but the foundation of sustainable service delivery.
DA-led municipalities throughout South Africa ensure that every cent is spent towards quality basic service delivery, infrastructure maintenance. Our governments adopt funded budgets and ensure effective revenue collection that fund budgets that work for residents.
While national Treasury’s intervention is welcome, the long-term sustainable solution to ensure effective service deliver and good governance in JB Marks is to vote DA on 04 November 2026.
A DA-led JB Marks municipality will effectively manage the municipality’s finances that will improve service delivery.