Newly elected Salga president Parks Tau yesterday said the local government body was calling for all historical debt, including billions of rands owed to municipal councils by government departments and businesses, to be wiped off.
Municipalities are owed about R119-billion - R25.6-billion by businesses, R6.4-billion by government departments and R77.8-billion by households. Of this, only about R23-billion is realistically collectable.
"All debt that is owed to municipalities [must be repealed] but we have not reached a determination on the mechanics. So, we're saying we need to look at what kind of incentives we can propose. We can't have a situation wherein we keep on saying that debtors' books are growing and growing without abating."
Tau encouraged municipalities to use electricity disconnections as a means of first resort to encourage payment for municipal services.
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 