Gordhan: Municipalities owe water boards R2bn

23-09-2014
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Fin24
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Cape Town - South African municipalities owed nearly R2.1bn in arrear payments to water boards with the Free State local authorities owing nearly a R1bn of this amount, Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Pravin Gordhan has told parliament.

Western Cape municipalities owed the least – just R372 000, while the Free State owed R971.8m. The Mpumalanga municipalities owed the next largest amount of R357m while those in Limpopo owed a considerable R323m.

North West local governments owed R254m while the Northern Cape municipalities owed R76m.

Gauteng local governments owed R46.6m, the Eastern Cape R42m and KwaZulu-Natal R9.4m. In a written question to Gordhan, ANC MP Nokukhanya Mthembu asked what amount was owed by local governments for water and what steps his department has taken to correct this challenge.

“The amounts owed by municipalities to water boards as at June 2014 is R2bn (R2.082bn),” said Gordhan, noting that this information was based on required reports submitted to National Treasury by the water boards.

Gordhan said his department works with provinces and the department of water and sanitation to support water boards in the collection of arrears owed to them.

He said the provinces help to facilitate agreements on payment plans from all municipalities having arrear accounts. “These plans are approved by municipal councils who are held accountable to honour them. Payment plans are implemented within a period agreed to between the water board and the municipality. This period is usually within 12 months,” he said.

His department is working with provincial treasuries to engage municipalities that have arrears.

“Municipalities are advised to review the operations, budgeting and tariffs, to ensure sustainable solutions including the preparation of financial recovery plans… where required,” said Gordhan.