The National Treasury has once again flagged poor financial management at local government level as a problem, with 43 municipalities in “financial and service delivery crisis”. But an increased grant allocation to councils could bolster provision of services to residents. 

The municipalities in crisis require intervention by the provincial and national governments, according to the 2023/2024 Budget Review. This is a perennial headache for the Treasury: each year, despite an increase in its budgetary allocation to subnational levels of government, municipalities “are mostly still not able to optimise resource use and improve service delivery”, the review says. ..

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