Cooperative Governance Minister, Velenkosini Hlabisa, has highlighted the lack of a revenue base for collection as one of the factors contributing to the poor performance of some municipalities.
This follows a report by the auditor general, which revealed that only 41 of the countrys 257 municipalities achieved clean audits for the 2024-2025 financial year.
Hlabisa says the well-performing municipalities are overshadowed by the majority of struggling municipalities.
He was speaking at a high-level dialogue in Midrand, where political parties have convened as part of the ongoing review of the 1998 White Paper on Local Government.
Some of our municipalities are not viable as they have no revenue base for collection. As a result, they are classified as distressed, and some are bankrupt. Sometimes they are unable to pay salaries.