Johannesburg - Gauteng municipalities are buckling under the weight of the recession, provincial ANC secretary David Makhura said on Wednesday.
"We've noticed an increase in the number of people who cannot pay for services from 2006 but especially this year," he said.
Makhura was speaking at a media briefing after a workshop with Gauteng councillors in Alberton, south of Johannesburg.
Retrenchments have impacted on consumers' ability to pay for services. He said there was a "noticeable difference" in one of the province's largest municipalities, Tshwane, which is a manufacturing hub.
"The crisis is essentially a cash flow situation," he said, adding that the recession had also had an impact on infrastructure projects undertaken by the larger municipalities in the province.
"Government needs to reprioritise... this situation must not affect assisting the poor," he said.
Makhura said the "envelope of indigents" was growing.
Certain municipalities in the province could not even pay councillors' salaries leading to intervention by the provincial government.
The financial viability of municipalities formed part of discussions among the province's provincial executive committee on Wednesday.
ANC deputy provincial chairperson and Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane said the provincial government had started assessing the capacity of municipalities.
"What's emerging is that it is not as dire as projected. The issue is one of cash flow management," she said.
Another factor which continues to put pressure on the larger municipalities in the province is the influx of people from smaller municipalities or rural regions as well as from other provinces into the cities.
- Sapa