A SPECIAL task team has been set up to revive service delivery in two troubled municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, says MEC for local government and traditional affairs Nomusa Dube.

A SPECIAL task team has been set up to revive service delivery in two troubled municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, says MEC for local government and traditional affairs Nomusa Dube.

They are the IFP-led municipalities of Umhla-buyalingana and Umfolozi (Mbonambi). Service delivery in both municipalities has been brought to a halt following allegations of irregularities.

Umhlabuyalingana municipality manager Eric Manqele and chief financial officer Mthandeni Zungu were suspended last week.

Manqele and mayor Alison Ncube were forced by the provincial government to cancel their trip to Switzerland after Sowetan reported the non-payment of municipal staff salaries this month .

"Several municipalities in the province have either failed dismally or are on the verge of collapse.

"And that had prompted us to step in as provided for in the Constitution and by legislation," says Dube.