KwaZulu-Natal Finance MEC Francois Rodgers has intensified his department’s hands-on intervention in municipalities facing financial and governance challenges as part of the KZN Treasury’s drive to arrest the steady decline in municipal capacity across the province. Rodgers this week met a delegation from the eMadlangeni Municipality in northern KZN, led by Mayor Mzwakhe Buthelezi in an engagement aimed at addressing the municipality’s fiscal pressures and infrastructure backlogs. The meeting, held at the KZN Treasury offices in Pietermaritzburg, included senior officials from the provincial Treasury.
The engagement followed earlier discussions this month in which eMadlangeni formally expressed its intention to apply for reclassification from an urban municipality to a rural one — a move intended to strengthen its case for a higher equitable share allocation from the National Treasury. The equitable share is a critical revenue stream distributed from the national government to provinces and municipalities to support basic service delivery. The municipality also appealed for urgent assistance to rehabilitate infrastructure damaged during severe storms in December.
The storms, which affected both commercial and residential properties caused destruction estimated at more than R140 million. Rodgers told the delegation that the National Treasury is in the process of reviewing the equitable share formula, a development that could have implications for several municipalities across the province. The eMadlangeni Municipality’s concerns, Rodgers said, would be taken up through both provincial and national government channels. The KZN Treasury, Rodgers said, will be working closely with the municipality in refining its proposal to the National Treasury while also engaging Cogta to fast-track disaster relief funding and facilitate discussions with the Municipal Demarcation Board on the reclassification application.
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