The Westonaria Local Municipality has revealed that it is facing serious financial difficulties mostly due to non-payment for municipal services.
This was announced on 26 February during a mayoral business breakfast at the Westonaria Banquet Hall.
According to the Westonaria Chief Financial Officer Vincent Mkhefa, the municipality is owed more than R190 million in unpaid rates and taxes by residents, businesses and the government.
“We are facing challenges with regard to service delivery owing to the lack of finances.
“This emanates from a lot of people not paying their rates and taxes.
“We have a lot of residents and local businesses that are in arrears with their municipal accounts and that puts us in a difficult situation.
“Apart from that, we have a huge portion of informal settlements that are being serviced without us generating revenue,” says Mkhefa.
He adds that the Municipality is faced with a situation where there is high demand and no resources for supply.
According to him, at least 35 per cent of people in Bekkersdal are unemployed, which makes it difficult to collect revenue from them.
He also announced that the municipality owes Eskom a whopping R64 million and is currently servicing its debt towards Rand Water for water bought.
Meanwhile, Westonaria Local Municipality Executive Mayor Nonkoliso Tundzi says that the violent protest actions that rocked the area late last year contributed to set service delivery back.
“It saddens me to announce that we have incurred damages to public property to the tune of R20 million during the violent protest actions in Bekkersdal.”
