ActionSA says smaller municipalities have become looting grounds for corrupt politicians and officials.
ActionSA in KwaZulu-Natal has criticised the ANC-run Impendle Local Municipality for failing to pay staff salaries for December.
According to media reports, the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has now dispatched a team to assist the struggling municipality with its finances.
ActionSA provincial leader Zwakele Mncwango told The Citizen on Thursday that the non-payment of staff salaries is unacceptable.
“The issue here is the mismanagement of funds and a high level of corruption.
“The problem there is that the ANC is governing in an outright majority, and when there is no strong opposition, you will find these issues of poor governance and system collapse,” he said.
Was the council warned about the financial crisis?
He criticised the provincial government and local authorities in Impendle Local Municipality for failing to stop the municipality from drowning in financial problems.
“The big question that they must address is that, when did they pick up that the municipality is in a financial crisis? A crisis like this does not just happen when you discover that there is no money.
“They probably saw a report that indicated the cash in hand and how long the municipality will have money,” he said,
Mncwango said the challenge in some municipalities is that there are councillors who do not know how to read the financial reports of the municipality.
“The issue of having councillors that are not educated or that do not have any formal education or any qualifications is a problem on its own.
“When these reports are submitted in council, they have what we call ratios. In these reports, you are able to see the municipality’s assets and the municipality’s debts.
“Knowing how to read these reports is critical because you are then able to foresee if the municipality is in danger of being broke,” he said.
Feeding troughs
Mncwango said most smaller municipalities, such as Impendle, are in poor financial shape. He said one reason is corruption.
“No one pays attention to these municipalities, hence you find that officials find a space to loot public funds because if you go there, you will find that even their senior officials live a mafia style,” he said.
Mncwango said most municipalities in KZN struggle to deliver services. He said this includes IFP and ANC-run municipalities.
“Most municipalities are collapsing in KZN. For an example, eThekwini is governed by the IFP, ANC and EFF, but you will find these parties blaming each other when something goes wrong.
“Most northern municipalities are governed by the IFP, the ANC has the southern municipalities and they are only a few. The ANC is dead in KZN, so we cannot blame them for all the challenges,” he said.
The problems in municipalities in KZN come at a time when the party is preparing for the local government elections next year.
ANC’s fluctuating support in KZN
Earlier this month, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula announced he would soon unveil a new team to save the party from perishing in KZN communities.
Initially, the party removed their provincial structure and replaced it with a provincial task team (PTT). This team was tasked with rebuilding branches and restoring support to the ANC.
But Mbalula said the PTT has not been effective. He is expected to announce his new intervention in February next year.
The ANC in KZN received 17% of the vote in last year’s general elections.
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