Cogta urges municipalities to plan for post-lockdown recovery
The revenue impact of Covid-19 on municipalities has been significant, said Cogta MEC, Sipho Hlomuka.
KZN MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Sipho Hlomuka has urged the province’s 54 municipalities to plan for a post-lockdown recovery in order to ensure that the lives of residents and businesses return to normal as soon as possible.
The call was made during the department’s recent virtual Munimec meeting.
“Before we look to the future, we must first acknowledge that as local government stakeholders we have also achieved, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, that our municipalities have continued to function and that basic services have been delivered to our communities whose welfare depends on the regular provision of water, electricity, refuse removal and the like,” said MEC Hlomuka.
At the same time, the MEC acknowledged that keeping the water taps and electricity meters running the lockdown did not come without a hefty price.
“The general economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been felt by our municipalities with a resultant non-payment factor given the financial distress felt by communities and businesses. The revenue impact on municipalities has been significant.”
Nowhere else, he said, was this more evident than in the province’s economic hubs namely eThekwini, Msunduzi and City of Mhlathuze where revenue collection through services such water, electricity, and rates are under pressure.
“In order to ensure uninterrupted supply of water and electricity going forward, our municipalities need to revive their revenue collection and to do that, they need to do everything in their power to stimulate their local economies for the benefit of residents and businesses. To achieve this, we need far-reaching and wide-ranging plans a post-Covid-19 era of socio-economic recovery,” he added.
“Our state of readiness for the Covid-19 free province must include well-functioning municipalities with a strong political and administrative leadership, characterised by stability. This implies functional councils and oversight structures, a consistent spending of capital budgets with no monies returned to the national fiscus, clean audits and sound financial management of our public funds.”
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