CAPE TOWN The local government system in SA faces collapse unless enough resources are committed to it, warns African National Congress (ANC) MP Yunus Carrim.

 Carrim says ineffective administration in local government has resulted in accumulated services debt of more than R24bn and many of them are on the edge of bankruptcy.

 Parliament's provincial and local government committee, under Carrim's chairmanship, undertook a study tour to assess the situation across the country.

 He said: "Some municipalities, without the most minimal financial, economic, revenue or other base, are simply not viable unless drastic measures are taken, not just by the municipalities concerned, but by provincial and national government, the private sector, communities and other stakeholders.

 "Of course," he said, "fundamental changes to municipal boundaries should be approached cautiously."

 Carrim said boundary issues should not be conflated with the many other issues affecting the viability of municipalities.

 He said: "But the Municipal Demarcation Board might well have to reconsider the boundaries of these municipalities."

 Carrim said one of the key issues in municipalities was the quality of leadership among councillors, but also among officials and community representatives and this affected the effectiveness of local government notwithstanding "the constraints of funds and resources, and the magnitude of the challenges".

 "It is clear that unless municipalities get more resources and increase service delivery, the new local government system will not be effectively implemented."

 He said: "At the same time, unless the new local government system is more effectively implemented, municipalities will not be able to secure more resources and significantly, increase delivery," Carrim said.

 He said it was not all gloom because municipalities in the early stages of major transformation were making more progress."

 Carrim said the tour had shown that the core principles of the new system of local government were sound.

 He warned that after constant changes in the past 10 years, there was a certain measure of "transformation fatigue".

 A measure of stability had to be introduced.

 He said: "Given the magnitude of the local government transformation, there will be continuing change but precisely to ensure the success of this, a measure of stability is necessary."

 Democratic Alliance MP Mannetjies Grobler said municipalities in certain cases bore the administrative cost of housing.