The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Free State says if municipalities continue to renege on their responsibilities to pay water boards and electricity the country will collapse.
This as the party welcomed the decision by the National Treasury to withhold equitable share from 69 delinquent municipalities including 16 in the Free State. The party says although equitable share funding was originally intended to supplement municipal service delivery, it has increasingly been diverted to cover salary costs instead.
This according to the party’s member of provincial legislature David Mckay, may lead to unpaid workers not wanting to render services.
“If you withhold that equitable share that small amount allowed for service delivery is no longer going be there plus people that have to deliver the services are not going be getting salaries so the consequences thereof can be dire, they could stay away from work they could demand they not going to deliver without pay. However, this is a measure that has to be implemented because it has been repeatedly warned municipalities, but they haven’t paid their critical debtors for example Eskom and water boards.”
About the Author
