There’s not much good news from the latest Ratings Afrika Municipal Financial Sustainability Index (MFSI) for the fiscal year to June 2020 which examines the 105 local municipalities plus eight metros in SA.
The survey concludes that government has an R51 billion municipal problem. That’s what it will take to prevent a total collapse of municipalities.“Unfortunately, this R51 billion burden will have to be carried by the taxpayers,” notes the survey.
There’s simply no room in the cupboard for that. Last year an additional R20 billion was made available to municipalities to tide them over the Covid shock, but that was nowhere near enough. The MFSI figures are up to June 2020, and revenue collection rates at the municipal level have been falling to 82.3%, against the benchmark 95%.
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That means nearly R18 out of every R100 owing is uncollected. The MFSI comprises six financial components: operating performance, liquidity management, debt governance, budget practices, affordability, and infrastructure development. Municipalities are scored on a scale of one to 100.
Four of the top five best-run municipalities are in the Western Cape (Mossel Bay, Swartland he fifth is Midvaal in Gauteng – all Democratic Alliance-run.The Western Cape is again far and away from the best-run part of the country, with an average MFSI score of 53.
The worst is the Free State with 17, followed by North West (21) and Eastern Cape (25). Emfuleni is the worst run in Gauteng with a score of 12, where residents have complained about everything from sewage spillage into the Vaal River system, to the garbage going uncollected for months. – Moneyweb
from The Citizen https://ift.tt/3ucxf64
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