Municipalities in South Africa will face water cuts due to US $710m in water debt. The South Africa Department of Water and Sanitation said that it was issuing notices to at least 30 of them. The notices will come to effect on December 8th, should they fail to pay their water. This is also in the case where the debt has been outstanding for more than a month.
According to a statement released by the department, an outstanding water debt of US $759.7m currently exists. Furthermore, 73% of this amount is outstanding for longer than 60 days. This debt is from municipalities, despite the Municipal Finance Management Act’s requirement for municipalities to pay for bulk services within sixty days of receiving the relevant invoices.
In a bid to try and recover the outstanding debt, the department initiated stakeholder consultations in line with the Inter-governmental Relations Act, and also embarked on a legal process. These processes began two years ago. So far, six court judgments have favored the department.
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Defaulting municipalities
According to the department, 59 courts summonses have also been issued and another 121 municipalities are involved in legal collection processes. The report also mentions that despite all these interventions, the water debt at municipal level continues to escalate.
The department would implement Section 59(3)(b) of the National Water Act. The act allows the department to restrict or suspend the flow of water to defaulting municipalities. The Department is implementing this sanction as a last resort. On the other hand, it is also engaging the National Treasury on invoking Section 216(2) of the Constitution of South Africa. The section enables the National Treasury to withhold the equitable share of grant funding paid to municipalities due to the persistent breach of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
