During a speech delivered at the April council meeting, the DA member of the Finance Oversight Committee, Bruce Reid, said the metro had better options for use of this unplanned cash surplus than to leave it in the bank.
He suggested that the metro could revise the tariffs and rates proposed for the next year’s budget downwards, for the benefit of hard-pressed ratepayers.
“Another option could be to do more repairs and maintenance and eradicate all potholes throughout the metro, as well as stopping all sewers from overflowing into the metro’s streets and streams,” said Reid.
“The ANC used its majority in the council to approve the issuing of its sixth bond to borrow the R1,1-b to fund its capital programme for the two months remaining of the current financial year.
“The DA voted against issuing the bond in the current financial year.
“The DA does not agree that the time is right to draw more interest-bearing debt in the present circumstances.”
Reid said that, by the end of March, there was R8,337-b in the metro’s bank accounts, earning R10-million interest per month.
“Included in this surplus is R1,5-b in grants that the metro has received from National Government for capital projects, which it has not spent,” he explained.
“Since the beginning of July 2014, the money owed to the metro, which it has failed to collect, has risen by R1,36-b. This debt has accumulated during a period when the metro failed to fully use the budget provided to the Finance Department for credit control.
“Consequently, the target collection rate has not been achieved.
“Ekurhuleni has also come in for criticism from the Gauteng Provincial Treasury for, inter alia, not spending grants, failing to spend their capital budget, failing to collect debts owing to the municipality and for seeking more loans while accumulating excessive cash.”
