- Title
- Escalating debt in municipalities: a case study of financial sustainability in the Amahlathi Municipality
- Creator
- Mashiyi, Buntu
- Subject
- Municipal finance -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Finance Debt
- Date Issued
- 2018
- Date
- 2018
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MBA
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/22651
- Identifier
- vital:30045
- Description
- Municipalities have recently been in the media for the wrong reasons with certain allegations being levelled against these institutions. The allegations range from lack of service delivery, corruption and lack of good governance. This has resulted in communities showing frustrations through protests that result in the destruction of the existing infrastructure and, in some areas, boycotts towards payments of rates and services. The study seeks to establish the reasons that lead to ratepayers and communities not paying for rates and services. In the process of establishing the above, it seeks to come up with suggestions and solutions that can be implemented by municipalities to ensure that the ‘going concern’ is addressed. To achieve the above purpose a literature review was conducted on available sources of information looking at financial sustainability, the role of municipalities, powers and functions of municipalities and how these institutions are funded. The study also looked at literature regarding the strategies to increase revenue and improve debt collection. The study used Amahlathi Local Municipality as a case study where a sample was selected from the population. Questionnaires were developed and distributed to the sample and responses were received to the tune of 203 respondents. Questionnaires were both qualitative and quantitative as they had both open-ended and closed questions. Quantitative questionnaires were distributed to the community and the qualitative questionnaires were distributed for expert opinion. Analysis was done against the research questions to establish if there were any links to the literature and the findings of the study. The study found that communities are fed up with unsustainable or a lack of service delivery that the municipality is providing. This has been linked to some information gaps between the councillors and the community in terms of municipal programmes. More needs to be done in terms of ensuring that ward meetings are held on a regular basis so as to improve communication. There is also an observation of a ‘culture of non-payment’ emanating from political canvassing during voting periods which negatively affects the cash flows of the municipality and that public representatives need to champion debt collection endeavours.
- Format
- xi, 112 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Business and Economics Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
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