Land invasions and Eskom deb contribute to distress of Emalahleni Local Municipality
27 October 2020
Mpumalanga permanent delegates to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) today met with Emalahleni Local Municipality, the provincial Treasury, as well as the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the province, for a briefing on key interventions to improve the municipality’s financial performance.
This interaction marked the beginning of the Provincial Week which is held under the theme: “Ensuring capable and financially sound municipalities”, and Emalahleni is one of three municipalities to be visited during the provincial week. The other two are Lekwa and Govan Mbeki local municipalities.
The MEC for Cogta, Mr Mandla Msibi, his counterpart in Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Mr Pat Ngomane, and the Executive Mayor of Emalahleni, CouncillorLinahMalatjie, briefed the NCOP members and members of the Provincial Legislature on the municipality’s financial management, debt collection, municipal debt, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, the use of consultants as well as on financial recovery plans.
The delegation heard about illegal land invasions which have reportedly contributed to the escalation of the municipality’s debt to Eskom, now standing at about R4.2 billion, because of illegal connections.