The SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), the largest union in local government, is calling for urgent government intervention in struggling municipalities to prevent their collapse, which could be detrimental to service delivery as the sector is a crucial sphere of government closest to the people.
The call follows disclosures by monitoring, planning, and evaluation minister Maropene Ramakgopa, in a parliamentary reply, in which she stated that most of the 257 municipalities in SA were distressed and dysfunctional.
“This revelation paints a bleak picture for municipalities, which are entrusted with delivering essential services to residents,” said Samwu general secretary Dumisane Magagula on Monday.
Samwu has previously called for increased intervention in municipalities to “prevent their collapse as many are already displaying signs of institutional breakdown. These signs include delayed salary payments to workers, tardy payments to third parties, and a failure to fulfil their constitutional duties towards residents”.
Samwu, the largest trade union in the local government sector, representing more than 160,000 of the country’s estimated 350,000 municipal workers, is an affiliate of labour federation Cosatu, a key ally of the ANC.
Magagula said Samwu had anticipated the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) and the SA Local Government Association (Salga), the employer body representing the 257 municipalities, would take “swift action” to address further municipal deterioration.
There was an immediate need for municipalities, Cogta and Salga to commit to a long-term, solution-based process fostering political will to enforce good governance and ensure municipal stability, he said.
During the 2021/2022 financial year only 38 municipalities received a clean audit, from 41 the previous year, highlighting the effect of instability in local government blighted by inadequate skills, cash flow challenges, governance failures and a lack of accountability and consequence management.
For the year under review, the 257 municipalities had an estimated expenditure budget of R487.12bn to operate and deliver services. Of the R487.12bn, R262.9bn was allocated to metros. Intermediate cities received R105.3bn, local municipalities R83.2bn and district municipalities R35.6bn. Municipal entities had a separate budget amounting to R52.01bn.
The municipalities racked up R4.74bn in fruitless and wasteful expenditure during the period under review. The estimated financial loss from noncompliance and fraud material irregularities (MIs) was R5.19bn.
“In the interest of effective service delivery, municipal sustainability, the wellbeing of residents and workers, Samwu calls for urgent intervention in the country's ailing municipalities. The constitution allows for various ways in which provincial and national governments can intervene in municipalities, but this constitutional provision has not been effectively used to stabilise municipalities. Instead, it has often been employed to settle political scores at the expense of service delivery,” Magagula said.
In October 2021, the Constitutional Court upheld an order by a lower court to set aside a decision by the ANC-led Gauteng provincial government to place the DA-led City of Tshwane under administration, in 2020.
The top court ruled the decision to do so was unwarranted, unnecessary and unlawful, and ordered then Gauteng co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Lebogang Maile to appoint a person or a committee to investigate the cause of the deadlock of the municipal council.
The Gauteng provincial government placed the metro, which is being run by a DA-led coalition government, under administration in March 2020 after the municipal council failed to convene and retain the necessary quorum from September 2019 due to walkouts by ANC and EFF councillors. This affected the delivery of services to the residents of Tshwane as the council could not take any decisions for months on end.
Samwu, said Magagula, is prepared to collaborate with Cogta and Salga to develop solutions aimed at salvaging what remains of the country’s municipalities.
“Our proposed solutions include (i) eradicating fraud and corruption in municipalities, (ii) strengthening municipal governance, (iii) improving municipal revenue collection, (iv) reintegrating municipal services, (v) fostering a culture of paying for services, and (vi) reviewing the municipal funding model,” he said.
Cogta spokesperson Legadima Leso said the government had adopted a multipronged approach in addressing financially distressed municipalities. This included relevant state departments addressing challenges at provincial level, “but we are led by the Treasury” in terms of addressing those financial challenges holistically.
Ratings Afrika analysts Leon Claassen and Charl Kocks have said the embattled municipalities need at least R54bn to recover.
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