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Cape Town - Households in Gauteng owe municipalities R31.8bn, making up the lion's share of debt due to municipalities for services and taxes.
The total outstanding debt to district, local, and metropolitan municipalities in Gauteng as at June 30, 2017 is R49 076bn.
This was revealed by Finance MEC Barbara Creecy on Sunday in response to Legislature questions on municipal debt.
The R31.8bn by residents represents 65% of the outstanding debt bill due to municipalities in the province.
The second biggest debtors are commercial customers with R13bn.
Government is the smallest debtor at R1.3m, which accounts for 3% of the total outstanding amount.
Debtors in terms of water is the highest at 30% or R14.6bn. This is followed by property rates at R9.1bn and R8.8bn for electricity.
Total consumer debt in South Africa, which is considered to be one of the most indebted countries in the world by the World Bank, is at R1.71trn, according to the latest National Credit Regulator figures.
Fin24 reported earlier that National Treasury is on course to conduct a new study to identify the profile of over-indebted South Africans, in particular low-income earners.
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