The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Friday said it would appeal to President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene in the struggling Mpofana Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal after Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma failed to acknowledge pleas for her to do so.

"The DA in Mpofana will be writing to President Ramaphosa calling on the President to bring his Khawuleza campaign to the collapsing municipality before it is too late," the party's Christopher Pappas, a member of the provincial legislature, said.

Pappas referred to a letter delivered to the minister on October 31, which he said represented the complaints of many residents and businesses in the municipal area, regarding among other issues its debt to Eskom.

The letter urged Dlamini-Zuma to remove the mayor, intervene in the Municipal Public Accounts Committee, investigate the municipal finance department for lack of consequence management and implement an emergency infrastructure programme.

"The DA is concerned that if the slow response from higher levels of government continues it will lead to further economic decline, further job losses and further collapse of critical services," Pappas said.

Khawuleza means "hurry up" in Xhosa and Ramaphosa has invoked the term in urging municipalities and districts to speed up service delivery.