​Rofhiwa Marubini
A new team of Administrators has been appointed, to resolve issues of Emfuleni Municipality as the initial intervention did not produce the desired outcomes.
Addressing the media on Monday 8 February, MEC for Cooperation Governance and Traditional Affairs, Lebogang Maile gave a status update and report on Section 139 (1) (b) and 154 (1) (a) of the Constitution regarding Emfuleni Local Municipality.
"The situation necessitated that EXCO review its intervention and subsequently resolved to appoint a new team of Administrators, for a duration subject to the progress made in turning around the situation at the municipality," said MEC Maile.
 The Administrators were given powers to focus on Supply Chain, Finance and Service Delivery. One of the main challenges at the municipality is the historical debt to Eskom and Rand Water.
The municipality's debt currently stands at around R4,6 billion, with the largest creditor being Eskom which the municipality owes  R3,2 billion as at end of January 2021, of which R2.7 billion is older than 90 days; Rand Water- R1.3 billion, of which R880 million is older than 90 days; Red Ants  R35,7 million.
Revenue enhancement decisions have been made in areas of electricity and water supply anda budget of R173 million has been approved for storm water and drainage system refurbishment.
R52 million in the 2020/2021 financial year has been approved for the rehabilitation and resealing of roads in Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging and potholes patching in townships.
Gauteng province has set aside R53 million for waste collection and the Gauteng Department of Agriculture Rural Development will be procuring waste collection trucks on behalf of Emfuleni Municipality as part of  improving service delivery.
To date, the Administrators have established an Integrated Revenue War Room that meets twice a month. Provincial COGTA has also appointed a revenue expert to work with the team in Emfuleni on revenue generation and they have adopted an Integrated Revenue Action Plan to improve revenue generation for the municipality.
At the recent Revenue War Room, led by the Administrators, decisions relating to revenue enhancement were taken, and are as follows: 

Electricity:
•  Meter conversion project to convert all conventional post-paid meters to prepaid
•  Ensure that all large power users' meters are smart and can be remotely read
•  The above stated projects will eliminate estimations
•  Save costs by stopping manual meter readings
•   Save costs by stopping billing
•  Eliminate 60 days lagging days from reading a meter, to sending a bill to receiving payment
•   Have servers relating to metering managed and controlled by the municipality
•   Add more vending points
•   30,000 conventional residential meters to be converted to prepaid
•   Replace faulty prepaid meters

Water:
•   Metsi a Lekoa to produce a detailed strategy to install water meters in the townships
•   Meter audits to be done in suburbs
•   LPUs meters to be audit