With over R24bn owed to City of Tshwane, Gauteng govt concerned by culture of not paying for services
Gauteng Finance MEC Lebogang Maile said there was a concerning culture of not paying for services that’s plaguing Tshwane.
Joint media briefing between Gauteng Treasury and the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality on 29 October 2024. From left: Eugene Modise, Tshwane Deputy Mayor, Dr Nasiphi Moya (black), Tshwane Mayor, Lebogang Maile, Gauteng Finance MEC. Picture: Thabiso Goba/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - The Gauteng government has raised concern over the R24 billion the City of Tshwane is owed by non-paying customers.
Over 70% of the debtors are households, while the rest are commercial businesses.
This was revealed on Tuesday during a joint media briefing of the provincial government and the capital city in Sandton.
Gauteng Finance MEC Lebogang Maile noted a culture of not paying for services plaguing Tshwane.
"This indicates that the implementation of credit control policy is not effective. This has a negative impact on the liquidity of the municipality."
Meanwhile, the Africa National Congress (ANC)-led governing coalition in Tshwane says it inherited an unfunded budget from the previous administration.
An unfunded budget means the city’s expenses far outweigh the projected revenue the city is estimating to bring in.
At the same media briefing, the capital city’s executive laid out the state of the municipality’s finances.
Since 2021, the City of Tshwane has been operating unfunded budgets.
This has led to, among other issues, a bad credit rating and negative audit outcomes.
Tshwane Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya says the capital has a four billion rand deficit on its books.
“We have an ambitious target of achieving a funded budget in the next few months, and whatever we are going to do in terms of the commitments on the side of expenditure and revenue generation - it must talk to this ambitious target of getting an unfunded budget for the first time in a couple of years.”