The Mahikeng Local Municipality in the North West, has expressed pleasure to have finally settled a historic debt spanning over decades with Magalies Water Board.
The Municipality was over R230m in arrears owed to the two now defunct water boards, Sedibeng and Botshelo Water (formerly the North-West Water Supply Authority Board).
Speaking on YouFM News Hour, the municipality spokesperson Johnny Nkwane, attributed the milestone to the current administration led by the Executive Mayor, Tshepiso Mphehlo, and the management team under the stewardship of the Municipal Manager Advocate Dineo Mongwaketse.“When the 5th Council took over, the municipality had over R230m in arrears with Sedibeng Water which later became Magalies Water.
Some of the debt was un-serviced since the Bophuthatswana era. At some point the municipality was able to negotiate a payment settlement plan for the debt of about R5m monthly while servicing the current account also monthly which was settled in December of 2024,” said NkwaneIn addition, Nkwane said the debt settlement will ensure that the municipality finances are streamlined for service delivery.
“The municipality will no longer pay unnecessary interest on debt that is not fruitful. The municipality has made a clean break with wasteful expenditure associated with servicing the debt and the money saved from this process will allow the municipality space to provide services,” explained Nkwane.
The municipality has also ascribed its ability to maintain debt repayment plan to the government departments, healthcare institutions, and other state-owned enterprises and higher institutions of learning who came through and settled their debt to the municipality.“I don’t have the figures, but various government departments owe the municipality a lot of money, which if collected properly the municipality can easily provide much needed services to the people.
These icludes patching of potholes, installation of streetlights and the provision of water,” highlighted NkwaneThe Municipal Council has taken further steps to improve its balance sheet by declaring as “unrecoverable” some of the bad debt connected to monies owed by households to the municipality in terms of the relevant laws. The council is however concerned that many households are not keeping up with the payment of rates and taxes which puts a strain on its finances and negatively affects services.The municipality is the only one in the province indebted to any water boards.
