State owes municipalities R837 million

THE Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) owes municipalities across the country a staggering R837 million in rates and services as at the first two months of this year.

This emerged in written replies by Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille to Parliamentary questions from Freedom Front Plus MP Philip van Staden and DA MP Haseena Ismail.

Van Staden asked about the 81 575 properties under the custodianship of her department that are in arrears with property tax, and the amount owed to individual municipalities.

Ismail enquired about the amount the department owed to each municipality for services rendered.

De Lille replied that there were 10 483 accounts with arrears balances submitted by 145 municipalities to the department as at January 31.

“The total outstanding arrears amount on property rates as per age analysis from the municipalities was R611 million,” she said.

De Lille’s reply showed the breakdown of the R611 348 202 in arrears per regional office as follows:

• Bloemfontein regional office owed R16 342 786.

• Cape Town regional office owed R274 320 970.

• Durban regional office owed R108 716 589.

• Gqeberha/Port Elizabeth regional office owed R4 928 936.

• Johannesburg regional office owed R67 399 359.

• Kimberley regional office owed R5 893 086.

• Mmabatho regional office owed R35 005 763.

• Polokwane regional office owed R4 170 733.

• Pretoria regional office owed R70 182 174.

• Mthatha regional office owed R70 182 174.

De Lille said the department has since analysed the age analysis and the accounts to confirm their accuracy.

The analysis showed R885 577 was for bills not yet received, R35 148 971 were amounts billed annually but not yet due and R24 917 7726 represented disputes over property ownership, incorrect billing and interest charged.

A further R3 304 720 in payment was rejected due to change of municipal bank account, R383 340 408 in payments were not allocated by municipalities, R40 503 948 was reconciliations in progress and R123 246 849 was for state domestic facilities and Ingonyama Trust Board properties.

De Lille said the department could confirm that only R76m billed by the municipalities was outstanding as per the age analysis of the municipality but not yet due and payable.

She also said the department did not pay annual property rates in advance but monthly.

“While municipalities may be reflecting the annual property rates as due and payable, and invariably overdue, there are few instances where invoices are not paid within 30 days.”

De Lille insisted that the department processed all valid invoices within the stipulated time-frame indicated by municipalities. “DWPI has made payments across all 257 municipalities to the value of R1.8 billion (March 2021: R1.3bn),” she said.

Responding to Ismail on money owed for municipal services, De Lille said R226 793 728 was owed as at February 28.

She said a total of R82 623 995 was disputed accounts due to incorrect billing, R7 234 555 was paid but not allocated by municipalities, R76 240 634 was for invoices requested but not submitted by municipalities and R60 694 542 was for invoices verified and ready for payment.

“The department can confirm that from the age analysis submitted by municipalities, R61m is outstanding as at February 28, 2022.”

De Lille, however, said the department has made payments across all 257 municipalities’ municipal services to the value of R2.6bn from April 2021 to February 2022.

The amount paid on municipal services accounts during the February 2022 amounts to R262m across all municipalities,” De Lille said.