eThekwini Municipality faces financial crisis as councillors and staff accumulate R80.9 million in unpaid bills

Councillors and staff of the eThekwini Municipality owe a staggering R80.9 million, a debt collection report for September 2025 revealed before a council meeting on Thursday.

The eThekwini Finance Committee report stated that the total municipal debt was R41 billion, an increase of R3.5 billion in comparison to September 2024.

The report stated that water makes up 40% of the total debt, while property rates and electricity are 24% and 15%.

The municipality attributes the debt to poverty and unemployment, slow/late payment from government and parastatals, and the non-availability of electricity pre-paid /smart meters, resulting in some households being legally or illegally connected.

Staff debt for September 2025 was R80.9 million, with 47 councillors owing R2.3 million and 4,449 municipal employees owing R78 million.

The municipality stated that staff and councillors in arrears are subjected to all credit control processes, including disconnections, redlining with the credit bureau, and legal process. Staff have also been given an option to utilise their leave to settle the arrears accounts.

Alicia Kissoon, eThekwini Ward 23 councillor, said that the debt collection report was a stark warning that the financial house is definitely not in order, and the Auditor-General was informing the municipality about this repeatedly.

“We are losing the public's trust, and the report confirms this because we penalise people who are unemployed and struggling with estimated billing, yet the report confirms that our own staff owe R80 million! That is not just debt; it's a profound, visible failure of leadership,” she said.

Kissoon said that the estimation of service consumption is a primary cause of bad debt.

“We are running our municipality on a guesswork budget! We are issuing inaccurate bills, inviting disputes, and then spending millions to write off the debt we have created. We need to stop guessing and start measuring with a rapid rollout of smart, accurate metering,” she added.

Asad Gaffar, chairperson of the eThekwini Ratepayers Protest Movement (ERPM), said that staff debt was highlighted at meetings with city officials previously.

Gaffar, in his observation, said that there were two scenarios:

1. The tariffs are so high that councillors and staff are struggling to meet the requirement, or
2. The staff and councillors have a don't care attitude about the payment and know that nothing will happen to them. No debt control measures are being implemented against them.

Gaffar felt that if any councillor owed the municipality, they should be removed.

“How can it be that a councillor is in debt, not paying for services, and expects his community to pay?”

Gaffar said an investigation might reveal that some municipal employees may occupy positions to implement disconnections against the community, even though they themselves are not paying the city.

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za