NW municipalities struggle to maintain roads despite MIG funding

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30-10-2026
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SABC News
Source

A number of municipalities in the North West are grappling with decaying infrastructure, despite being allocated the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) annually.

The grant is earmarked for infrastructure development and maintenance.

The Auditor-General’s 2024/25 audit report raised compliance findings on the utilisation of the municipal infrastructure grant at three municipalities.

They are Mamusa, Maquassi Hills and Kgetleng Rivier.

The Auditor General said the municipalities didn’t execute projects in line with the grant framework. Instead, municipalities prioritised payments for operating costs, like salaries and Eskom.

The long-standing history of governance failures and deteriorating financial situation, has left the distressed Mamusa Local Municipality with dilapidated infrastructure, that is hardly maintained.

The municipal roads infrastructure is falling apart, due to years of lack of maintenance and neglect. This, despite the municipality receiving a grant annually earmarked for infrastructure development and maintenance.

Residents say weak leadership is to blame for the deplorable road conditions.

“We don’t have a proper administration in our municipality, with the very same MM who was there in the previous administration currently serving in this council. He cares less about the state of our roads in the municipality, and that is why we find ourselves in this situation.”“All our roads are inaccessible, from here to Amalia and Schweizer-Reneke. They are filled with potholes. Even within the township, head-on collisions are inevitable because motorists are forced to use the same lane to avoid potholes.”

The local authorities acknowledge that they are not coping with infrastructure maintenance, because the infrastructure grant allocation is not sufficient, Maxwell Mongale is the Project Management acting manager in the Mamusa Local Municipality.

Maxwell Mongale is the Mamusa Municipality Project Management Acting Manager.“We are struggling to maintain the internal roads in town. Remember, with the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG), we mainly focus on previously disadvantaged areas. We will not have the budget to rehabilitate Schweizer Street, given our annual MIG allocation. Every year, we receive approximately R18–19 million in MIG funding, which we have to distribute across the entire Mamusa Municipality.”

The municipality is not only struggling with infrastructure maintenance.

It has also failed to complete projects, including a poorly built one kilometer pavement road at Glaudina, and a sports ground at Ipelegeng township.

‘The paving was not properly constructed. The bricks were simply placed on the road without proper construction. The road has also been narrowed to the point where two cars cannot pass each other simultaneously.’“There have already been two accidents at that corner. We have repeatedly requested that the pavement be fixed to allow the free flow of traffic on this road.”North West Co-operative Governance Department spokesperson, Lerato Gambu, is critical of the municipality’s use of the infrastructure grant for operational issues.

‘We take great exception to that, as the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) is a conditional grant with clear terms and conditions. Therefore, such use of the funds is not permissible. The department has engaged with municipalities to recover the costs of resources that were used for purposes other than those intended under the Municipal Infrastructure Grant.”

The Mamusa local municipality, which will receive 18 million Rand in municipal infrastructure grant for the current financial year, has now requested the provincial government to assist with the repairs of other roads.