The National Department of Health has a steep legal bill. Picture: Health Department
Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana has revealed that national and provincial government departments owe municipalities over R18 billion.
Municipalities have long fought national and provincial governments over debts, with department offices occasionaly disconnected.
In a recent parliamentary response to EFF MP Vuyani Pambo, Godongwana said organs of state had collectively raked up a bill of R18.6 billion for rates, taxes, and services.
Gauteng municipalities were owed the most, over R3.5 billion, followed by those in the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal (R3.2 billion).
Mpumalanga municipalities were also owed more than R2 billion (R2.1 billion).
Western Cape municipalities were owed the least, R345 million.
Among the departments that owe the most are public works, agriculture, education and health.
In Gauteng, national public works owes over R2 billion to municipalities, while the KZN and Free State provincial public works departments owe over R1.6 billion and R1.2 billion respectively.
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Addressing the opening of the Gauteng legislature this week, Premier Panyaza Lesufi told municipalities to collect their money or cut services.
“Municipalities in Gauteng, I am giving you the go-ahead. If any of the departments that I have the honour to lead owe you money, and you told them to pay and they are not paying, switch them off until they pay you.
“We cannot allow our municipalities to sink into debt because the government is not paying. We want our municipalities to be self-sustainable so they can deal with this matter”.
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Cutting services can be detrimental to service delivery, as can costly court battles and settlements.
There has been a concern at the high level of legal claims and money owed for services by the Department of Health.
The Auditor-General reported that R1.45 billion was paid towards medical litigation claims in the 2022-2023 financial year.
In February, the department revealed that it had spent R1.3 billion on legal costs and R23.6 billion on legal claims from January 2020 to the end of 2023.
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This has sparked fears its debt may lead to department assets being seized, and those most vulnerable being left without care.
Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said it had taken steps to prevent this.
“The Health Sector, in consultation with the National Treasury, has introduced a budget item classification for ringfencing budgets per province for the payment of legal claims.
“This is to ensure compliance with court orders to circumvent and/ or mitigate the risks of assets being attached and ultimately seized,” the department said on the matter.
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