MBOMBELA – The provincial departments have been urged to pay their debts to local municipalities. Executive member Mr Gillion Mashego made the call on Thursday December 11, following an executive committee meeting on Wednesday.
He noted that a total of R211 million was owed to municipalities in the province by national and provincial departments.
“The provincial government had paid at least R44 million as at the end of the second quarter of the current financial year.”Mashego added that the debt affected the efficient operation of municipalities.
Ms Refilwe Mtsweni, MEC for cooperative governance and tradtitional affairs (Cogta), said her department was happy with the manner in which the current debt was being handled on a month-to-month basis.
The council further expressed its satisfaction that the senior managers had timeously made the required disclosures of their financial interests. Mashego added that all politicians were required to do so too and had done it.
He said this information was not necessarily for public consumption and that some of it was classified.
They also announced that the province was ready for the flood disasters it expected in January and February. An inventory of the relief material has been procured for the provincial disaster management centre and presented by Cogta.
“The material will be readily available at the end of the month at the centre to give relief to the citizens who could be affected by the flood disasters, which naturally hit the province around January and February every year.”
The material comprises collapsible structures, tents, tarpaulins, water purification sachets and sleeping sponges. Cogta had also acquired an early-warning weather detection system to be able to evacuate communities to safer areas before a disaster strikes.
