In the first of a series of webinars examining the crisis in local government ahead of the elections on 1 November, activists said there was no doubt that many municipalities were on the verge of collapse. They said the system to deliver services needs a redesign to benefit residents and not politicians.
There is no doubt that local government in South Africa is in a state of unprecedented crisis as the country approaches the 1 November elections, Minhaj Jeenah, the executive director of My Vote Counts, said at the launch of a series of webinars about the issue on Tuesday night.
“Every year, the Auditor-General’s municipal audit paints a picture of the municipal crisis. The most recent audit shows that this crisis is deepening. It reveals that only 27 of South Africa’s 257 municipalities received a clean audit.
“This is 10 less than the 2018/19 municipal audit. It also shows that there was R26-billion in irregular expenditure in municipalities. This means that around 90% of municipalities are neck-deep in debt and unable to pay for basic services like water and electricity,” Jeenah added.