Millions returned to Treasury as KZN’s municipalities fail to spend critical infrastructure grant funding

9 May 2023

The DA calls on KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) COGTA MEC, Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi to ensure stricter measures and timeous intervention when it comes to the expenditure of Municipal Infrastructure Grants (MIG) by municipalities in the province.

The move comes after a KZN COGTA portfolio committee meeting earlier today, which highlighted extremely slow expenditure of MIG funding, leading to some municipalities losing this critical grant funding altogether.

The DA is extremely concerned by the slow pace of spending given that the grant is specifically for infrastructure development. Equally alarming is that we are now nearing the end of the financial year, with this funding still unspent.

The shocking state of municipal infrastructure, particularly water, sewerage and roads, across most of KZN demands that this funding be spent, yet this is not the case.

Within the uThukela District Municipality, where there are serious water challenges, R40million of the grant has been returned to national treasury due to underspending. Other top offenders in the province include;

- uMkhanyakude which has only spent a shocking 26% causing it to lose R30 million

- Amajuba which has only spent 38.9%

- Nquthu which has spent just 46,8% and;

- Big 5 Hlabisa with only 51% of its grant spent.

This failure to spend available funds is unacceptable and a slap in the face to KZN’s millions of residents who continue to suffer as a result of poor service delivery. The severe damage to infrastructure across the province during last year's floods only makes the lack of expenditure even more disturbing.

The DA will urgently engage with its municipal caucuses in KZN in a bid to push municipalities to spend the money available to them.

We welcome the COGTA portfolio committee chairperson's undertaking to ask for a joint meeting with the national counterparts in an effort to find out why KZN's COGTA MIG allocations recommendations weren't followed.

Municipal underspending is as intolerable as overspending. The DA will continue to fight on behalf of KZN’s people, who continue to suffer under this ANC-run government.

Issued by Martin Meyer, DA KZN Spokesperson on CoGTA, 9 May 2023