AfriForum report gives failing marks for NW municipalities

A lack of proper weekly refuse removal, sewage collection and disposal, maintenance of roads, repairs potholes and water supply problems are some of the main issues said to be sinking the performance of most municipalities in the North West province

These were some of the findings contained in the AfriForum North West municipal report, with all its municipalities ranking below five out of 10 for performance and management.

According to the civil rights organisation’s strategic advisor Eugene Brink none of the municipalities in the province are performing well. The highest ranking municipalities were Potchefstroom, Ventersdrop and JB Marks local municipality with a total rating of four out of 10.

“Many communities do not enjoy weekly refuse removal by their municipalities or even at all and water supply is still extremely challenging,” Brink said.

“The financial and administrative management of the municipalities is extremely poor and has been for a long time. None of them have recently received a clean audit and many of them received an opinion of disclaimer with findings in the 2018-19 financial year.”

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The report found that a number of municipalities are faced with issues of administration, financial and management deficits, with a few of them not submitting their statements for audit.

The worst was Ratlou local municipality which has major water supply problems. Only 0.4% of households have a flush toilet connected to a sewerage system and only 0.1% of households are provided with weekly refuse removal

AfriForum head of community development Johan Kruger said the report shows that all these municipalities are weak and unable to fulfill their constitutional mandate. However many of these are issues affecting a number of municipalities around the country and not just in the North West.

“To a large extent municipality management and service delivery are in the ICU, with many municipalities on life support.”

Brink said the research centre will be a watchdog and conduct research on municipal governance. It will also seek to find new ways to salvage service delivery in municipalities.

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