Business flight ‘imminent’ unless Ditsobotla collapse halted, says committee  

Staff Reporter

Business flight from North West’s Ditsobotla Local Municipality is fast approaching unless government moves faster to halt the municipality’s collapse and restore basic services under a national intervention.

This is according to the Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Public Administration, whose chairman, Mxolisi Kaunda, said on Friday that service delivery in the embattled municipality remains “largely non-existent”.

“The risk of business flight is both real and imminent,” said Kaunda.

He said the municipality must “strengthen its relationship with ratepayers and the business community to improve revenue collection”.

“Businesses must be encouraged to meet their obligations, but this is contingent on the municipality demonstrating consistent improvements in service delivery.”

The committee said weak and allegedly corrupt officials were eroding the municipality’s functioning and draining resources from service delivery. It called for stricter accountability.

The committee said it would urgently engage Cooperative Governance Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa to ensure more