Over a third of municipalities dysfunctional: Solidarity

05 March 2015 - 13:48 By Sapa
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More than a third of local municipalities are dysfunctional, trade union Solidarity said on Thursday.

"In many municipalities, notably in the Free State, North West and even in certain parts of Gauteng, residents don't have clean drinking water," the union's researcher Eugene Brink said.

"Moreover, most municipalities in the Eastern Cape, North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga rate very poorly when it comes to audit opinions by the auditor general."

He was reacting to a parliamentary question put to Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Pravin Gordhan. In his reply, Gordhan said one in three municipalities was dysfunctional, according to a study conducted nation-wide.

Brink said Solidarity's Research Institute had examined municipal service delivery in six provinces over the past two years. This showed serious shortcomings in most municipalities.

"Our research indicates that a total lack of service delivery is experienced in the majority of local municipalities, and not just in one third of municipalities. So far, the Western Cape is the only province where municipal service delivery is at a desired level," said Brink.

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