Co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister, David van Rooyen has urged municipalities to be “frugal” with what little revenue they get.<\/p>\n
The minister was speaking in an interview with Business Day<\/a>, and said that state funds are tight and that government is doing its best to make sure whatever funds are available to local government is being used.<\/p>\n Treasury is currently under a lot of strain, having to bail out state companies such as SAA and Sanral, while also ensuring municipalities have enough funds for infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n Read:<\/strong>\u00a0This is how much of your money the government is wasting<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Municipalities are in a mess of their own, with 27 owing R4 billion to power utility, Eskom; millions owed to Sanral in e-toll bills; and certain areas facing further strain from retrenchments in some industries.<\/p>\n All this against a backdrop of extremely low economic growth – under 1% according to the latest IMF projections.<\/p>\n In the 2014\/15 financial year, national and local government chalked up R25.7 billion in wasteful and irregular expenditure; this was down 27% from the previous financial year, but was not enough to spare certain municipalities from forcing government intervention.<\/p>\n The auditor general revealed in June 2015 that 264 South African municipalities incurred R11.5 billion in irregular and wasteful expenditure – R687 million of which was a complete write-off.<\/p>\n “We need to work with municipalities to improve their financial management,” van Rooyen said.<\/p>\n Irregular expenditure at SA municipalities tops R11 billion<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n SA government\u2019s insane consultant, travel and catering bill<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n This is how much of your money the government is wasting<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on the government<\/h3>\n