MEDIA RELEASE                                                                                           30 March 2017

Quarterly Financial Statistics of Municipalities December 2016

According to the latest Quarterly financial statistics of municipalities released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) today, purchases of water by South African municipalities decreased by 1,8% between the quarters ended September 2016 and December 2016. Electricity purchases by municipalities over the same period decreased by 21,7%. Sales of water and electricity by municipalities decreased by 0,3% and 19,3%, respectively, over the same period.

Employee-costs, including items such as salaries and benefits, increased by 9,2% between the quarters ended September 2016 and December 2016.

Revenue

For the quarter ended December 2016, the largest contributor to municipal total revenue was grants and subsidies received (30,8%), followed by sales of electricity (27,7%), property rates collected (15,6%), other income ((10,1%), which includes fines, licenses and permits, public contributions and donations etc.), sales of water (9,5%), refuse removal (2,9%) and sewerage and sanitation (3,5%).

Operating expenditure

For the quarter ended December 2016, the largest contributor to municipal total operating expenditure was employee related costs (28,4%), followed by purchases of electricity (20,6%),  other expenditure (18,1%) which consists of amongst others, collection costs, loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment etc., general expenses (8,4%), purchases of water (5,3%), depreciation and amortisation (5,6%) ,contracted services (5,3%), bad debts(4,3%)  and repairs and maintenance ( 3,9%).

Seasonally adjusted estimates for sales and purchases of water and electricity

This publication introduces seasonally adjusted estimates for municipalities’ sales and purchases of water and electricity (for each quarter from September 2007). The quarterly growth rates in the purchases and sales of water and electricity, seasonally adjusted, shows that from the September quarter of 2016 to the December quarter of 2016, purchases of water decreased by 5,8% and sales of water decreased by 4,6%, while purchases of electricity increased by 2,0% and sales of electricity decreased by 1,6%

Ends.

Note to editors:

1. The full statistical release is available on the Statistics South Africa website: www.statssa.gov.za
2. The unit data for all 257 municipalities (as demarcated in August 2016) is also available on the Statistics South Africa website (these are unadjusted estimates). Seasonally adjusted estimates for municipalities is currently only available at the national level (and not for each of the 257 respondents).

Issued by Statistics South Africa

For technical enquiries:

Mr Joe de Beer

Deputy Director-General: Economic Statistics

Tel: (012) 310 8024

Cell: 082 888 2600

Email: JoeDB@statssa.gov.za

Ms Elizabeth Makhafola

Acting Chief Director: Government Financial Statistics

Tel: (012) 310 8977

Cell: 082 888 9062

Email: ElizabethMa@statssa.gov.za

Ms Hellen Maribe

Acting Director: Local Government Institutions

Tel: (012) 310 2931

Cell: 082 9062144

Email: HellenM@statssa.gov.za

For media enquiries contact:

Lesedi Dibakwane

Director: Public and Media Relations

Tel: 012 310 8578

Cell: 082 805 7088

Email: LesediD@statssa.gov.za