Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

Privatisation of debt collection in municipalities essential, says AfriForum, amid news of municipalities’ uncontrolled debt to water boards

Soundbite: Lambert de Klerk (English)

Soundbite: Lambert de Klerk (Afrikaans)

According to AfriForum, the privatisation of municipal debt collection is now essential and inevitable for water security and continued municipal service delivery. The civil rights organisation’s insistence on privatisation follows news of municipalities’ uncontrolled debt to water boards nationwide that already totals more than R25,1 billion and that the extent of municipal debt in the Free State is taking on particularly serious crisis proportions. AfriForum warns that a culture of non-payment without consequences has been established at municipal level, but that it can be eradicated through private initiatives.

According to the latest financial statements tabled in the Free State provincial legislature this week, this province’s municipal debt to Eskom and water boards amounts to approximately R36,5 billion, while debt to municipalities in the province by among other businesses and government departments amounts to approximately R43,5 billion.

Debt levels have also now reached a critical turning point, warns Lambert de Klerk, AfriForum’s Manager of Environmental Affairs. “If the poor financial management in municipalities and the poor debt collection rate continue, the delivery of all municipal services will be compromised, and water outages could occur nationwide within as little as three months,” he warns.

“The latest reports regarding municipal debt levels in particular prove beyond a doubt that municipalities no longer have the ability to recover debts. Essential infrastructure projects are already being halted as a result of serious debt levels, which ultimately compromises, among other things, water security and the delivery of safe drinking water. A critical starting point in reversing this crisis lies with the privatisation of municipal debt collection,” explains De Klerk.

De Klerk is meanwhile urging water boards to also apply responsible financial management. Earlier this week, AfriForum revealed that exorbitant salaries are being paid to top board members at water boards, while luxurious trips, expensive accommodation, and other unnecessary expenses are further hampering the already struggling boards.

“The ill-prioritised spending at water boards places communities in a double stranglehold – they suffer due to municipalities that do not or cannot pay their debts to water boards, and they suffer from increasingly corrupt water boards where financially wasteful practices are the order of the day.”

“Water is a constitutional right, and the government can no longer allow municipalities’ mismanagement to undermine the country’s water security. AfriForum will continue to apply pressure on all three spheres of government to protect communities’ right to sufficient and safe water,” concludes de Klerk.