PRETORIA - Municipalities must ensure that they have funded budgets, says Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa.
"If municipalities ran funded budgets, they would be able to pay salaries and champion projects for development," he says.
However, many municipalities rely on government grants, which they use for salaries and things Hlabisa calls 'nice-to-haves' and eventually run out of money for service delivery.
Thus National Treasury's decision to withhold funds from up to 69 municipalities left them wanting.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that funds to some municipalities would be paid out.
He warned, however, that the money was to ensure that service delivery continues. Godongwana has said that if there are no changes then their allocations might be withheld again in December.
READ: Godongwana: Treasury's released municipal funds are for continued service delivery
"The equitable share is an important source of funding for basic services, particularly services provided for poor households," says Godongwana.
"National Treasury must balance its constitutional responsibility to enforce financial management requirements," he adds.
Godongwana emphasised that the release of the funds is conditional and requires municipalities to correct the identified serious weaknesses.
"We are confident because we are going to be consistent this time; we are going to be following every municipality," says Godongwana.
He says municipalities will be getting letters from now until December highlighting things they need to work on and fix. The same letters will go to Finance and CoGTA MECs in each province.
Godongwana says there will be quarterly progress reports. Hlabisa says wayward national and provincial departments may be subjected to the same measures.