By Staff Reporter
The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) has painted a grim picture of municipal governance and finances in the Free State during its oversight visit this week.
Acting Chairperson Dikeledi Direko outlined the province’s deep-rooted issues, including the failure of any municipality to secure a clean audit.
Several Free State municipalities are in a deep financial crisis, with none securing clean audits and many drowning in debt, especially unpaid water bills to bulk suppliers like Vaal Central Water.
Key struggling municipalities include Matjhabeng, Kopanong, Mangaung Metro, Nala, and Mantsopa, with Matjhabeng facing the heaviest burden at over R6.9 billion.
“The Free State is one of the provinces where no municipality received a clean audit,” said Direko.
She also highlighted the debt municipalities owed Eskom and the water boards.
Municipalities in the Free State are currently drowning in debt, owing billions to Eskom and water boards, while struggling to meet financial obligations and deliver essential services.
“So, we are here to understand what the challenges are and how best to resolve them because, as a committee, we want municipalities that can provide the people with services – municipalities that are working for everyone.”
The committee heard from both the provincial treasury and the COGTA departments and SALGA about the support they provide to struggling municipalities in terms of S154 of the Constitution.
They also highlighted some challenges, including almost R40 billion owed to municipalities, with households constituting 73% of that debt. In turn, municipalities in the Free State owe Eskom and the water boards billions, with several municipalities defaulting on the debt relief programme.
The committee also heard that most of the province’s municipalities cannot pay their financial obligations, and most of the proposed budgets are unfunded.
“Municipalities cannot deliver services without the revenue they are owed,” Direko said.
Despite these setbacks, there are signs of progress.
According to Direko, Mangaung Metro has shown improvement following national intervention, and efforts by the provincial treasury and COGTA to support struggling municipalities are underway.
However, the committee remains concerned about poor audit outcomes, service delivery failures, and the millions in unspent conditional grants returned to the National Treasury.
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