South Africa's National Treasury to unfreeze funds for compliant municipalities

South Africa's National Treasury has announced it will unfreeze equitable share transfers to a number of local municipalities by 31 July. The Treasury had earlier frozen R13.5 billion for 69 municipalities because of persistent non‑compliance with the Municipal Finance Management Act, aiming to instil fiscal discipline.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said the unfreezing will be conditional on municipalities meeting financial management requirements, and warned that non‑compliant municipalities remain under scrutiny. By the end of July, 20 municipalities will receive full funding, 21 partial funding, and the remaining 28 will receive their share later in the month. Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa urged prudent use of the funds and urged municipalities to stop adopting unfunded budgets. The South African Municipal Workers’ Union had previously condemned the freeze as reckless, citing concerns over salary payments for municipal workers.