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Johannesburg - Gauteng municipalities are owed more than
R26bn, The Star newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Households owed 70% of the debt, businesses 23% and the
government 2%, according to the newspaper.
Democratic Alliance local government spokesperson Fred Nel
said: "Debt owed to municipalities in Gauteng rose by R4.26bn (19.2%) in
the last financial year, between 31 March 2011 and 31 March 2012."
With the debt being older than 90 days, it posed a serious
problem since debt that old is not usually recoverable.
The information was sourced from Gauteng provincial
gazettes, he said.
The City of Johannesburg was owed more than R11.2bn by the
end of the last financial quarter, compared to R8.4bn last year.
The Ekurhuleni metro was owed R8.1bn, up from R7.2bn; the
City of Tshwane R3.6bn from R3.2bn, Emfuleni R2.3bn from R1.9bn, and Mogale
City R612m.
The West Rand district municipality was owed R8.2m,
Randfontein municipality R220m, Lesedi municipality R163m, Westonaria R110m and
Midvaal R78m.
Merafong was owed R490m last year. There were no figures for
this year, according to the newspaper.
The Sedibeng district municipality was owed the least, R652
000, down from R1.7m last year.
Nel said the DA wanted the SA Revenue Service to look at
linking municipal arrears with income tax returns since this would be cheaper
than debt collection, The Star reported.
Gauteng local housing MEC Humphrey Mememzi told the provincial legislature in May his department and the provincial treasury were implementing a debt strategy to ensure departments paid their municipal rates and services.
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