Ngwathe Local Municipality started to participate in Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS) debt relief scheme in July 2025 to get capital debt due written off by DWS.

Upon admission to the scheme the municipality had to pay all invoices for the 2024/25 financial year in to qualify for the first one-third debt write off, which the municipality did successfully. 

The second debt write-off was conditional on monthly payment for the 2025/26 financial year. According to Ngwathe’s Municipal Manager, Dr F.P Mothamaha, the municipality complied and has received positive feedback from DWS confirming debt write offs. 

Mothamaha said that DWS in recent engagement and correspondence with the municipality confirmed a debt write-off of more than R84 million.

He said the municipality continues to pay DWS invoices monthly to qualify for the final debt write-off and will continue to pay DWS invoices beyond termination of the three year DWS debt relief scheme.

He added that the municipality is in constant engagements with Eskom, National Treasury, SALGA, and the national Department of Cooperative Governance to enter into a similar arrangement for the ESKOM debt in compliance with provisions of section 78 of the Municipal System Act. 

“All these efforts will collectively ensure that the municipality becomes financially sustainable in the medium term while all efforts continue to contribute positively to the municipal service delivery programs as these write-offs would allow the municipality to channel resources to ongoing activities such as road maintenance and water provision in all Ngwathe towns,” Mothamaha concluded.