Abstract:
Local governments have been identified as the main catalyst for service delivery provisions. However,
challenges, such as capacity and lack of financial sustainability, means many municipalities struggle to
meet this obligation. This study sought to evaluate the challenges the Musina Local Municipality faces in
their attempt to manage their finances for financial sustainability. The study adopted a quantitative
approach. A structured self-administered questionnaire was employed as a data collection tool from
sampled respondents. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the gathered data.
The findings of this study indicate that the main challenge confronting the Musina Local Municipality was
the low revenue collection. This is mostly as a consequence of community members’ inability to pay for
services due to their unaffordability. The findings reveal that the Musina Local municipality made most of
its revenue income from property rates, services charged on tariffs and fines. As such, failure by customers
often left it in financial distress. The municipality’s poor financial position leads to other challenges, such
as inability to pay creditors, lack of financial reserves, diversion of grant funding to fund the operation
deficits. The study, therefore, concludes that the municipality is not financially sustainable. The study
recommends that the municipality should develop a sound billing and revenue collection structure and place
more emphasis on revenue collection of monies owed to them for amenities rendered.
