Pay now or face consequences, warns mayor

Vhembe District Municipality sits on R3.1bn uncollected debt as residents bear the brunt of poor service. The Vhembe District Municipality in Limpopo has recorded a staggering R3 billion in uncollected revenue from state-owned parastatals, provincial departments, local municipalities, private businesses, and residents. All this, while residents bear the brunt of poor service delivery. The ANC secured 74.23% of votes in Limpopo during the 2024 general elections. In the Vhembe region, support was even stronger: of 346 289 people who voted, almost 300 000 reportedly chose the ANC. But today, statistics show the region ranks among the poorest in the country because of gross failure to deliver basic services and collect revenue. A warning During a recent joint meeting of the portfolio committee on Limpopo Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs and the Provincial Treasury at The Ranch Hotel outside Polokwane, newly appointed executive mayor of Vhembe District Municipality, Miyelani “Mabanana” Chauke, revealed that as of 30 June 2026, the municipality’s debtors’ book had ballooned to an eye-watering R3.168 billion. He said the four largest debtors remain residential households at R2.6 billion, businesses at R198 million, the Department of Education at R63 million, and local municipalities at R56 million. Mabanana claimed that the municipality’s outstanding payments for the same period stood at R191 million, with R103 million owed to the Department of Water and Sanitation. R32 million was owed to Lepelle Northern Water- a state-owned water utility responsible for bulk water provision in government and municipalities across Limpopo on behalf of the National Department of Water and Sanitation, led by Minister Pemmy Majodina. “We have now written to all our debtors to settle their accounts or face the harsh realities of decisions by management for unpaid bills,” Mabanana said this week. “We have the best interests of all our people at heart. We have made promises to our people that we will deliver basic services to them. If you fail to pay for services you received from us, we are then failing our people – something we cannot just sit on our laurels and watch,” he said. Chauke said his municipality will do everything possible to make sure his people in the region get the necessary services and live a better life. Decisive intervention needed The DA in Limpopo also called for a decisive intervention from the provincial government “to support and strengthen the capacity of the Vhembe District Municipality to manage its own affairs, to exercise its powers, and to perform its functions”. DA provincial leader, Jacques Smalle, said the municipality is grant-dependent, has an unfunded budget, is in financial distress and, as both the Water Services Authority and Water Services Provider across the district, carries ultimate responsibility for potable water delivery. The same municipality, Smalle said, remains disappointingly incapable of collecting revenue from its water sales. “When billions owed remain uncollected, the result is inevitable: deteriorating services, mounting debt, cash-flow crises and communities that pay the price. “Collect every cent that is legally owed. Revenue collection is not optional, it is the foundation of a functioning municipality,” he added.