Parliament, Thursday, 3 April 2025 – The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has welcomed the financial turnaround announced by the Mayor of Tshwane this week, calling it an encouraging step in the right direction.
On Wednesday, the Mayor of Tshwane, Dr Nasiphi Moya, provided feedback on the administration’s progress over the last 175 days. The progress update follows a committee oversight visit in November last year.
At the time, the committee welcomed the assurance that the City had entered into preliminary discussions with Eskom to thrash out a repayment plan. The municipality committed to paying off arrears of R6.7 billion over the next five years and paying future invoices on time. Noting the municipality’s revenue enhancement strategy, the committee also urged the City to improve the municipality’s finances, anchored to reducing fruitless and wasteful expenditure and enhanced debt recovery initiatives.
The committee also asked that the City of Tshwane provide a plan to reconnect with the community and regain the lost public trust. It also asked for a roadmap, with timeframes, about stabilising the City’s finances and reaching a break-even point. The committee also wanted a roadmap with timeframes for reticulating clean drinking water to Hammanskraal and a plan to prevent the recurrence of similar crises in other communities.
Among the notable achievements in the last 175 days is the City’s first fully funded budget tabled in three years and a significant dent in its Eskom debt. Since concluding a payment agreement with the power utility three months ago, the City paid over R1 billion towards its Eskom debt, reducing it to R5.66 billion.
Another stride towards financial health was the full settlement of the R4.7 billion VAT debt linked to the cancelled PEU smart meter contract. With intensified revenue collection efforts, its Tshwane Ya Tima campaign and the council-approved debt relief scheme, the administration reduced the debtor’s book from nearly R30 billion to R25.69 billion by the end of March this year. With the City’s debt relief programme, R2.42 billion was written off from registered indigent accounts, and an additional R1.83 billion was cleared from over 31 500 inactive accounts. Over 10 200 applications for the debt relief scheme have been submitted so far.
Noting the Mayor’s report, committee Chairperson Dr Zweli Mkhize commended the City’s progress. “The progress is encouraging and the improved financial stability will help pave the way for improved, equitable service delivery. The committee will continue monitoring this,” he said.
The committee believes municipalities must conduct regular customer satisfaction surveys to elicit community feedback on service delivery performance. This is another area where the committee wants to see progress, as the municipality must serve the interests of the people of Tshwane. This means achieving its targets set for service delivery must match the money spent, the Chairperson said.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON COGTA, DR ZWELI MKHIZE.
For media enquiries, please contact the committee’s media officer:
Name: Alicestine October (Ms)
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E-mail: aoctober@parliament.gov.za
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