Armand Cloete, FF Plus MPL: Free State, pointed out in a media statement that only four of the 19 Free State municipalities funded budgets for the 2023/24 financial year have been approved.

The statement further reads:

The other 15’s budgeted income for the year will not be able to cover their budgeted expenses.

During a public accounts committee meeting of the Free State legislature, the provincial treasury admitted that the Mangaung, Matjhabeng, Setsoto and Metsimaholo municipalities are the only municipalities whose budgets for the 2023/2024 financial year have been funded.

However, funded budgets do not necessarily ensure service delivery, but at least determine that the budgeted income will cover the expenses.

Unfunded budgets are not only illegal, but have an enormous impact on municipalities’ cash flow and consequently service delivery.

Debt to municipalities currently amounts to R33 billion, of which the provincial government’s debt amounts to R1.4 billion.

Municipalities’ biggest challenge is to collect debts from the government, residents and businesses, but most municipalities simply cannot implement good financial systems. In many municipalities, residents receive estimated readings on water and electricity usage if they receive bills at all.

Municipalities are also guilty of not having reliable registers for poor residents, who receive free services such as water and electricity.

More worrying is the auditor general’s (AG) finding that 80% of the province’s municipalities’ current budgets will have to settle more than half of the previous financial year’s debt.

Service delivery will therefore not be able to take place and residents are once again the victims of municipal decay under the ANC.

Political will is needed to save the finances of this province’s municipalities. The ANC proves every year that it does not have the political will. The only way to see real change is to get rid of the ANC.