South Africa: Tshwane 'sinking financially'

Pretoria Tshwane Metro Municipality is on the nose and sinking financially. From a once prosperous and beautiful city to ruins. The last time I was in Pretoria (2007) the city was disgustingly dirty and creepy. I couldn't wait to leave. I can only imagine to what further depths it has sunk. What a shame that a once well run city has been reduced to a bankrupt hovel under the new ownership...the story of so many other SA cities......

Hat tip: REXTRUT

 

With R4.1 billion in unsecured loans that need to be paid together with a R419 million overdraft and the R4 billion it is owed by residents in unpaid rates and services, the Tshwane Metro Municipality is "sinking financially", the DA said on Thursday.

Professor Hein Redelinghuis, the DA's representative on the Finance Portfolio of the Tshwane Council, said: "We are so deeply in debt that we are sinking financially."

He said that the municipality's "corporate monthly and first quarter financial report" for the period ended September 30 showed that the city had an overdraft of R419 million and needed to pay unsecured long term loans of R4.1 billion in the near future.

The problem is that the municipality is about to write off R750 million in interest charges and residents are not paying their bills.

Redelinghuis said that according to the report the amount owed by residents passed the R4 billion mark in September.

He said the city's billing system was failing with 93,000 fewer bills being sent to consumers in September 2010, compared to three months earlier. The number of accounts billed dropped from 813,000 in June 2010 to 720,000 in September 2010, he said.

Comment from the municipality could not be immediately obtained as the Tshwane Council were meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Source