(Bloomberg) — South Africa’s Treasury plans to withhold funds from five municipalities next month over their unpaid water bills, part of an effort to force local governments to pay for basic services .

The Treasury will invoke a law authorizing authorities to block the payment of a so-called fair share of the money allocated to municipalities to pay for services, including water and electricity, according to a presentation by the department to Parliament on Tuesday. The municipalities of Matjhabeng, Kopanong, Thabazimbi, Merafong City and Victor Khanye are affected by this decision, the press release said.

“The aim of interventions should be to restore financial stability, improve service delivery and ensure good governance in distressed municipalities,” Treasury said.

South African water boards are owed R23.4 billion ($1.3 billion), more than 70% of which is four months overdue. Debt is hampering their ability to maintain and upgrade their aging infrastructure at a time when commercial hubs, including Johannesburg, are facing shortages.

South Africa’s municipalities have grappled with a culture of non-payment for services since the apartheid era, when residents of townships and rural areas boycotted rent and other utility charges to protest the country’s white minority government. Municipalities remained poor payers after the end of apartheid in 1994.

The five municipalities were due to receive R483 million on December 4 and a further R362 million on March 12, according to National Treasury. Funding will only be released once local authorities have made arrangements to pay the water services concerned, the statement said.

Matjhabeng and Kopanong owe the Vaal Central Water Board a total of R7.8 billion, while Thabazimbi owes the Magalies Board R216.5 million and Merafong City and Victory Khanye owe the board R1.54 billion Rand waters. Both the Vaal and Magalies boards face imminent bankruptcy, according to the Department of Water and Sanitation.

In addition to suspending funding, Treasury and the water department are also helping to renegotiate reimbursement agreements between water departments and municipalities.

They are also finalizing a debt forgiveness mechanism to allow water utilities to “cancel a municipality’s historical debt, if the municipality has established a history of paying its current bills in full,” said Sean Phillips, Director General of the Water Department. , declared Parliament.

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