Pretoria - The SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) has called on the government to intervene in the City of Tshwane and other municipalities to prevent “their total collapse”.
The capital city has had a spate of service delivery woes in recent weeks because of the municipal workers’ strike that has been going on for months.
Smwu workers have downed tools, demanding a 5.4% increase that has fallen on deaf ears as the municipality maintains that it’s broke.
In a statement yesterday, the union’s general secretary Dumisane Magagula expressed concern regarding the metro and other municipalities.
His concern arose after a parliamentary reply from Minister in the Presidency responsible for Monitoring, Planning and Evaluation, Maropene Ramokgopa, revealed that 229 (89.1%) of the country’s 257 municipalities were facing distress or were dysfunctional.
Among these, 163 (63%) were distressed, while 66 (25.6%) were dysfunctional.
“This revelation paints a bleak picture for municipalities, which are entrusted with delivering essential services to residents.
“Notably, Samwu has previously called for increased intervention in municipalities to prevent their collapse, as many are already displaying signs of institutional breakdown,” Magagula said.
The signs included delayed salary payments to workers, tardy payments to third parties and a failure to fulfil their constitutional duties towards residents, he added.
“For Samwu, this revelation demands immediate action. Minister Ramokgopa’s disclosure cannot stand alone; we expect comprehensive solutions for this municipal crisis, as municipalities are at the coalface of service delivery.
“We anticipated that the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), the overseeing body for the country’s municipalities, and the South African Local Government Association (Salga), the representative body of municipalities, would swiftly take action to address or, at the very least, provide suggestions to halt further municipal deterioration,” he said.
Magagula further called for a re-evaluation of the municipal funding model as one method to address these financial challenges.
“Crucially, municipalities must be thoroughly scrutinised to prevent resource leakages.
“Also, to ensure that municipal resources are directed toward service delivery.
“Although addressing municipal challenges is not an overnight task, there is an immediate need for municipalities, Cogta and Salga to commit to a long-term, solution-oriented process that fosters the political will to enforce good governance and ensure municipal sustainability,” he said.
Samwu had consistently argued that municipalities were the most neglected tier of government, despite being the cornerstone of service delivery, he said.
“Due to National Treasury’s fiscal consolidation programme, which has resulted in budget cuts for many government departments, municipalities are increasingly compelled to fend for themselves.
“Unfortunately for many municipalities, the pressure is just too much hence the alarmingly high number of municipalities in distress and dysfunctional.
“The Constitution allows for various ways in which provincial and national governments can intervene in municipalities, but this constitutional provision has not been effectively used to stabilise municipalities. Instead, it has often been employed to settle political scores at the expense of service delivery,” he said.
Magagula said the union was prepared to collaborate with Cogta and Salga to “develop enduring solutions that can salvage what remains of the country’s municipalities”.
“Our proposed solutions include eradicating fraud and corruption in municipalities, strengthening municipal governance, improving municipal revenue collection, reintegrating municipal services, fostering a culture of paying for services and reviewing the municipal funding model,” he said.
Pretoria News