Five (5) municipalities in the North West, namely, Ventersdorp, Naledi, Lekwa-Teemane, Tswaing and Mahikeng local municipalities have benefited from a revenue enhancement project initiated by the department in order to improve that financial stability of municipalities.
Acting MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Paul Sebegoe said that his department embarked on this project to aid municipalities in eleven (11) key elements of revenue management strategies which involve legal institutional matters, meter installation, data management, meter readings, billing, receipt management, credit control, debt management, indigent management, customer care and service departments.
“The five (5) identified municipalities have made progress in implementing these key elements this includes the improvement in terms of the collection of rates and taxes for property tax and service charges have improved tremendously. To date, Ventersdorp Local Municipality is at 73% and Naledi local municipality has made a significant improvement from 46% to 72%,” he said.
“To maintain this epic improvement, a Revenue Enhancement Project Forum has been established with the primary objective of ensuring that municipalities share best practices and that pockets of excellence are replicated. This forum is tasked with the responsibility of reconciling and clarifying disputes around government debt and ensure resolution thereof,” said Sebegoe.
Speaking at the North West provincial legislature recently, MEC Sebegoe said that his department has partnered with a debt collection and revenue management specialist, MDB Solutions to embark on a process of analyzing municipalities’ debtors’ book to determine the accurate list of debtors owing municipalities is underway.
“Mahikeng Local Municipality has been identified as a focal pilot site for this project and intensive data cleansing, debts/credit control management and customer care activities shall be undertaken at this pilot site for a period of six [6] months. This will be done at no cost to the municipality or the department,” he conclude.
