Strengthening municipal revenue governance in South Africa: A framework for debt collection and billing integrity
Nomonde Lindelani Avuyile Khiva, Mohamed Saheed Bayat & Tando Rulashe
Abstract
South African municipalities face persistent challenges in revenue management and debt collection, with consequences for financial resilience and the reliability of basic service provision. Although legislative instruments require sound billing, credit control, and accountability, implementation is often uneven across departments and constrained by institutional routines, capacity limitations, and weak enforcement. This study develops an empirically informed framework for improving municipal revenue management and debt collection. A qualitative case study design was applied, drawing on semi-structured interviews with municipal officials and relevant stakeholders involved in billing, credit control, financial reporting, and related governance processes. Data were analysed through a thematic approach, combining inductive coding of participant accounts with deductive interpretation guided by institutional and organisational perspectives. The findings indicate that weak data integrity and billing accuracy, inconsistent application of indigent policies, limited consequence management, and fragmented coordination between finance and service departments are central contributors to persistent consumer debt. Participants also highlighted the need for clearer process ownership, improved communication with consumers, and more consistent monitoring of revenue collection performance. Based on these insights, the study proposes an integrated framework that aligns institutional compliance requirements with operational controls, stakeholder engagement, and enforcement mechanisms. The framework contributes a practical, context-sensitive tool that can guide municipal managers in strengthening revenue governance, improving implementation coherence, and supporting more sustainable local government finance.
Keywords
ethical governance, indigent policy, local government, municipal revenue management, regulatory compliance
Author information & Contribution
Nomonde Lindelani Avuyile Khiva. Corresponding Author. Doctoral Graduate. Department of Applied Management, Administration and Ethical Leadership, Faculty of Management and Commerce, University of Fort Hare, South Africa. Email: nlmzekwa@yahoo.com
Mohamed Saheed Bayat. Professor. Department of Applied Management, Administration and Ethical Leadership, Faculty of Management and Commerce, University of Fort Hare, South Africa. Email: mbmsaheed@gmail.com
Tando Rulashe. Senior Lecturer. School of Development Studies, Faculty of Economics, Development and Business Sciences, University of Mpumalanga, South Africa. Email: tando.rulashe@ump.ac.za
“All authors equally contributed to the conception, design, preparation, data gathering and analysis, and writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
This work was not supported by any funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement
This study was conducted in accordance with the University of Fort Hare's ethical guidelines. The conduct of this study has been approved and given relevant clearance(s) by the University of Fort Hare’s University Research Ethics Committee (UREC) – Ethical Clearance Number: BAY011SKHI01.
Data and Materials Availability
The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
AI Declaration
The authors utilised QuillBot in the preparation of this work to improve readability and language. The authors reviewed and edited all content produced using these tools, for which they fully accept responsibility in the final publication, and Scribbr helped with reference formatting.
Notes
Acknowledgement
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Cite this article:
Khiva, N.L.A., Bayat, M.S. & Rulashe, T. (2026). Strengthening municipal revenue governance in South Africa: A framework for debt collection and billing integrity. International Review of Social Sciences Research, 6(2), 227-251. https://doi.org/10.53378/irssr.353356
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