CAPE TOWN – Cooperative Governance Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa said municipalities’ failure to pay water boards was a vicious circle.

National and provincial government departments now owe councils more than R29 billion in unpaid bills.

Answering questions in the National Assembly on Thursday, Hlabisa said consumers and businesses should pay for the services they receive from local authorities unless they are poor.

He said municipalities could not be expected to pay Eskom and water boards if government departments did not pay.

Hlabisa said municipalities should complete poor registers to determine who can pay for their services.

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He said the water department is also working with the Treasury Department to determine the debt write-off mechanism for historic debts.

water losses Problems in the system increase municipalities’ inability to pay their debts.

“There will be greater focus on improving infrastructure and prioritizing repairs and maintenance. Various water utilities authorities have been given permission to allocate up to 10% of municipal infrastructure grant funds towards repairs and renovations,” Hlabisa said.

Hlabisa said he has written to all ministries that owe money to water boards to pay off their debts by the end of December, otherwise which treasury will be asked to direct money from its allocations to the debtor municipalities.