South Africa’s rising municipal debt is becoming a major stumbling block to municipal viability, as municipalities are owed more than R138-billion by government departments, businesses and households.

Parliamentary delegates attending a three-day Local Government Week programme have proposed a range of recommendations they consider essential to speed up the delivery of services in the local government sphere for the benefit of all South Africans.

Delegates stressed that measures must be put in place to address this challenge to ensure the viability of municipalities. There is a general view that the culture of nonpayment, especially nonpayment by households that are able to pay, must be eradicated.

The enforcement of a National Treasury directive instructing provincial and national departments to pay their debt was also highlighted as critical to addressing the municipal debt crisis.

Another recommendation was that the legislative sector look into amending the Tax Administration Act to allow deductions of municipal debts before refunds are made by the South African Revenue Service.

Delegates also emphasised the need to establish district debt collection agencies to aid municipalities in collecting debt.

Provinces must put in place early detection systems to enable monitoring and timely intervention through Sections 139 and 154 of the Constitution in municipalities requiring assistance.

Interventions should be used as a last resort after facilitated assistance and remedial measures have been exhausted.

The South African Local Government Association (Salga), Provincial Cooperative Governance departments and National and Provincial treasuries should also strengthen their support to municipalities to improve municipalities’ financial viability.

Delegates also recommended the development of an Accountability and Consequences Framework, which should be linked to invoking Section 139 and should be applicable to municipal councils in the event of failing to exercise constitutionally assigned executive powers and to other State institutions for failing to provide support in terms of Section 154.

The National Council of Provinces was called upon to consider reviewing its Rules of Procedure concerning interventions to enable it to assess and measure the impact of interventions in terms of desired outcomes by the end of the 2018/19 financial year .

The delegates agreed on the need to establish guidelines for implementing the write-off of municipal debt, as a means of protecting the indigent. These guidelines will also avoid the temptation of blanket write-off of debt, which would exacerbate the culture of nonpayment. 

In addition, regarding land use, it was recommended that the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, higher education institutions and the South African Council for Planners establish a collaborative relationship to build capacity within municipalities to acquire, manage and govern land use.

The general challenge identified was that planning for land use in municipalities was hindered by a lack of skilled town planners, especially in rural municipalities.

The role of traditional leaders in implementing the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (Spluma) must also be strengthened, as “they are a critical stakeholder”, the delegates noted.

Spluma was passed to present a new framework to govern planning permissions and approvals, to set parameters for new developments and to provide for different lawful land uses in South Africa.

This engagement with traditional leaders would bring to life the prescripts of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework, delegates found.

The urgent drafting and implementation of a water and sanitation master plan was also identified as a priority.

The master plan, which must include establishing an independent regulator should be expedited, the delegates suggested.

Salga, working in collaboration with municipalities, must influence the functions and scope of work of the regulator. Identification and massive roll-out of innovations in the water and sanitation sector were also cited as necessary.

“Stakeholders such as the Water Research Commission and higher education institutions must be approached to share innovations aimed at dealing with the sanitation challenge in municipalities.”

Regarding support to municipalities, it was recommended that a common national Municipal Support and Intervention Framework be developed and implemented nationally in municipalities requiring assistance.

The finalisation of the Monitoring and Intervention Bill is also important to provide guidance in this regard.