It sounds as though the government – or those who hold the purse strings – has finally grown a backbone and is moving from threats to action to bring our shambolic, debt-ridden municipalities to heel.

National Treasury has notified the South African Local Government Association that it plans to withhold the July transfers of the Local Government Equitable Share funds to a host of municipalities, including the City of Joburg metro, for “persistent failure to adopt budgets and to address irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure”.

These municipalities owe money to water boards, Eskom, the SA Revenue Service and even ripped off their own workers by failing to pay over the obligatory employer’s contribution to pension funds.

They have also failed to address unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

None of the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities, responsible for more than half (R334.9 billion) of local government expenditure, achieved a clean audit in 2024-25, auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke said.

She revealed the metros and their entities accrued R73.87 billion in irregular expenditure over the past four years, including R23.14 billion in 2024-25.

Water losses in the metros totalled R9.89 billion, electricity losses were R17.28 billion and the metros’ consumer debt written off or impaired reached R39.33 billion.

She attributed the failures to weak leadership, skills shortages, ineffective controls, poor oversight and lack of accountability.

We question whether Treasury’s harsh medicine will cure the sickness, or kill the body hosting it.

Cutting funding won’t punish the incompetent and corrupt responsible for the mess – but it will hurt ordinary people… and particularly the ratepayers who have been paying their dues.

Fire those who can’t do their jobs and jail those who steal. Simple, really.