Gauteng MEC for education Lebogang Maile addresses the media on Sunday in Johannesburg, where he outlines mounting municipal debt owed by schools, indicating a total amount of R583.9m owed to Gauteng municipalities over 60 days. He also discusses the income crisis of municipalities due to severe revenue crisis and overcharging accusations made against schools in Gauteng.
Gauteng MEC for education Lebogang Maile addresses the media on Sunday in Johannesburg, where he outlined mounting municipal debt owed by schools. Maile, who was briefing the media on Sunday on water and electricity issues affecting schools in the province, said the total amount owed to Gauteng municipalities for accounts older than 60 days stood at R583.9m.
Maile says the total amount of debt owed to the gauteng municipalities over 60 days is R583.9 million of which R4.38 million is under query.
“Municipal revenue is essential for administrative operations, including the payment of salaries for municipal staff,” said Maile. “Municipalities across the country are facing a severe revenue crisis due to poor cash flow and rising debt. “Recognising this, it is important that municipal governments do not lose sight of the high cost of interrupting teaching and learning. Schools are, and must, remain a public good.
”Maile said that although schools were deemed to owe nearly R6m to Eskom, R4.38m of that amount was in dispute.
“Municipalities in Gauteng have increasingly been accused of overcharging public schools through incorrect billing, inflated tariffs, estimated readings, historical debt transfers and unlawful charges on municipal accounts. “Many schools report being billed on estimated consumption instead of actual meter readings. This often results in excessively high electricity and water accounts that do not reflect real usage. Schools sometimes receive sudden, inflated bills without proper explanations or verification processes,” he said.
Many schools report being billed on estimated consumption instead of actual meter readings. This often results in excessively high electricity and water accounts that do not reflect real usage. While declaring that the education department and municipalities would work together to address the debt issues, Maile dismissed comments made by Tshwane mayorThis follows a high court ruling ordering Tshwane to immediately restore electricity to schools that had been disconnected due to unpaid property rates.
“We shouldn’t have mayors making reckless and populist statements because they want votes and want to be seen to be working because it’s an election. Ordinarily, there shouldn’t be any school that is switched off.
However, that doesn’t mean schools should not pay for electricity and water.
“That is why we are making provisions. We spend R2bn on water alone in schools. The issue is not the budget. The department can afford to pay for water and electricity in schools. It’s other issues,” said Maile.
Finance Governance Gauteng MEC For Education Mounting Municipal Debt Income Crisis Of Municipalities Sever Revenue Crisis Overcharging Accusations Schools In Debt
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