Treasury crackdown puts Joburg’s finances under the spotlight The National Treasury has temporarily withheld equitable share transfers to seven municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal due to governance failures, prompting a response from local officials and the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance.
Some KwaZulu-Natal municipalities impacted by National Treasury's decision to temporarily withhold the current month's equitable share transfers due to non-compliance with financial governance standards are pressed to get their houses in order.
The affected municipalities fear that the punitive measure will have a devastating impact on the communities they serve, particularly poorer households.
Equitable share funding is transferred from the National Treasury to local government entities for use at their discretion, and is most often utilised to help municipalities provide free basic services, primarily to poor and indigent households that cannot afford such services.
Earlier this week, National Treasury announced its decision to withhold equitable share transfers to 69 municipalities across all nine provinces.
