Debt owed by eThekwini Municipality employees amounts to R77 million as of February 2026. Forty-one municipal councillors owe the city R2.8 million.
Image: Pexels.
THEeThekwini Municipality's debt collection report for February 2026 shows a decrease in the debt owed by its employees, dropping from R91 million in December 2025 to R77 million.
As of February 2026, a total of 3,765 employees were in debt, a reduction from the 4,308 employees recorded in December 2025. Additionally, 41 municipal councillors, out of the 111 ward councillors, collectively owe the city R2.8 million, IOL reported.
The municipality has stated that staff and councillors who are in arrears will be subjected to credit control processes.
These include disconnections of services, credit bureau redlining, and legal action. Furthermore, staff members in arrears for more than 90 days are subject to salary deductions.
The municipality explained that although salary deduction is an effective tool for collecting from staff in arrears, it is limited to 25% of the net salary.
"This is often insufficient to cover the arrears, leading to a continuous increase in staff debtors," the report stated.
The municipality stated that staff have an option to utilise their leave to settle their arrears accounts. It attributed the reduction in debt owed by councillors due to reports submitted to the municipal speaker's office for actioning.
This debt forms part of a broader debt amounting to R44 billion. The report states that household debt makes up the bulk of R33 billion.
The municipality stated that this reflects growth in the number of households that are struggling to pay their municipal bills due to various factors.
Unpaid water bills make up 42% of total municipal debt, while property rates and electricity are 23% and 15% respectively.
In total, R39.5 billion relates to rates and services debt, while R4.6 billion is for all other debtors, including sundries and interest charges. Government departments owe the city R1.8 billion, while parastatals owe R386 million.
In January 2026, the disconnections committee recorded 2,570 water disconnections valued at R209 million and 1,897 electricity disconnections.
The report outined that during February 2026, 11,458 disconnections took place for electricity valued at R1.7 billion, while 3,212 disconnections occurred for water valued at R290 million.
The municipality’s disconnection committee noted an improvement in the number of electricity disconnections in February 2026 due to a disconnection contract in place.
According to the municipality, electricity meter reading is conducted every third month, except for business meters, which are read on a monthly basis for actual and accurate billing of consumption used.
"There are 22,941 faulty meters that have been reported to maintenance to resolve; however, there are delays in replacing these meters. There are also 15,889 meters that are disconnected; however, in some instances, there seem to be movements, which therefore suggests tampering," the report stated.