Forum welcomes Treasury withholding of funds from 69 municipalities [SOUND]

# Activists and Citizens Forum has welcomed National Treasury’s decision to temporarily withhold 13.5-billion-rand in local government equitable share transfers from 69 non-compliant municipalities. This is aimed at instilling fiscal discipline, ensuring public money is properly managed, and forcing municipalities to deal with unauthorised and wasteful expenditure. Spokesperson Dennis Bloem says widespread corruption and poor governance have left many municipalities unable to provide basic services, despite residents paying for them: