According to the DA, residents of the metro have been left without basic services in excess of R831-million and it is allegedly due to overspending by the metro. They claim reports state that as of December last year, the metro only had 25 days’ money in the bank.
The DA released a statement questioning how that was possible when debt collection had increased and suppliers were still not being paid in 30 days.
The Environmental Resource Management Department exceeded the budget by R200-m and was among those departments listed to have been called out for overspending.
“While revenue is down, the metro collected four per cent more than they budgeted for electricity.
“Water, however, is R156-m or 7.8 per cent below budget.
“This is a huge deviation that the metro needs to investigate,” said Clr Bruce Reid, DA spokesperson for Ekurhuleni.
“The spending of other departments has improved, with nearly all on track, except for human settlements and real estate, who have only spent 50 per cent.
“It is a worrying sign, given Ekurhuleni’s large scale housing projects that are underway,” he added.
Among the departments listed for overspending were the economic development, energy, health and social departments, who all allegedly went over budget by almost 50 per cent of the original budget given.
Roads and stormwater, waste management, water and sanitation are all below 20 per cent and the capital expenditure spent R1.5-billion out of budget from the R6.4-b allocated.
“On the employee side, R206-m was not spent as a result of the vacant posts that have not been filled.
“The executive is again showing that they do not care about unemployment in this metro, which continues to grow daily.
“Despite the promises to reduce overtime, nearly all departments have spent more on overtime this year, compared to the same time last year.
“Where are the measures of implementation to curb this?” Reid asked.
The GCN contacted the metro for comment but none had been received at the time of going to press.
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