In response to the metro’s budget speech delivered by MMC for Finance and Economic Development in Ekurhuleni Clr Doctor Xhakaza last Thursday, the DA’s Shadow MMC for Finance in Ekurhuleni, Clr Bruce Reid, tabled his party’s thoughts on the budget.
Councillors reconvened at the Germiston Council Chambers to hold a debate over the budget last Thursday afternoon, and according to the DA, the current administration under executive mayor Clr Mzwandile Masina has proven that it is not capable of implementing the budget.
“The latest audited annual financial statements for the 2017/18 financial year reflected a surplus of R1-billion,” said Reid.
“This was as a result of R1-b not being spent as provided for in that year’s budget, how much will be unspent in this current year’s budget?
“We will see when the fourth quarter results are brought to the council at the end of June.”
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Though the metro’s budget is informed by the views of the community through the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) meetings, Reid believes IDP meetings were held in selective areas, excluding many of the ratepayers.
“It is not enough that the issues raised are recorded, the number of times those issues were raised should also be recorded,” he said.
During his response, he was adamant that there are many things his party would do differently to ensure infrastructure-led growth, zero tolerance for corruption, fair access to opportunities, reduced regulations and red tape.
He touched on maintenance, which is a problem in the metro, and mentioned the metro was underspending on this issue by almost R2-b per year.
“This has an impact on power outages, water leaks, potholes, parks not being maintained and trees not being trimmed, council buildings are also in a state of disrepair,” said Reid.
He questioned the metro’s ability to attract investors with failing infrastructure.
“Not enough is being done to curb bad debt,” he said.
Reid questioned when council would start assisting residents, as the metro now plans to introduce a pre-termination letter with an additional cost.
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He suggested that instead of spending money on more legal letters, the metro should spend 18 cents and send the account holder an SMS of how much they owe on their accounts, also pointing out that many residents do not receive their statements via mail.
“We should employ our own internal credit controllers who could give the residents a call before we start legal proceedings against them at a greater cost,” he said.
“Growth is constrained and while the metro does not fight back against paying for the corruption and waste in Eskom, which causes above inflationary increases, it is going to get worse and not better.”
Reid congratulated Masina for taking cognisance of his exhortations regarding the low number of registered indigents, by going on a drive to register more.
Moving to staff and the massive vacancies, he asked when the thousands of vacant posts in the metro would be filled?
On policing, Reid suggested an increase in the size of the force and that more members should be allocated to the specialised units, especially the Anti-Drug Unit and the Cable Theft and Illegal Connections Unit.
“When it comes to development, we would encourage developers to develop the thousands of vacant stands in the metro,” he said.
“We would invest in vacant office buildings through private-public partnerships and convert them into housing units for residents.
“We have a good credit rating with Moody’s and are able to borrow money to fund the capital projects.
“It is to be praised that the capital budget is now sitting at R7.4-b, however, supply chain management remains a problem.
“Although loans have an impact on the operational budget in terms of interest payments, it is very prudent to pay an item off over the lifespan of the item as allowed in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act.”
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Reid also touched on the Leeuwpoort South project, which is allegedly a year late, as the tribunal has not even sat to hear the objections to the project.
“The only department to not approve the project was the roads department, then all of a sudden they have now approved it.
“Based on the number of housing units that are going to be built, how can the existing roads handle eight times the volume of traffic?” he asked.
“Are you going to convert Rondebult Road into an eight-lane highway?”
According to the DA, Erwat needs a new financial model and capital injection to ensure the quality of service is at the highest standard.
In upskilling the youth, Reid stated that in every department where possible, they would introduce a learnership programme to allow the youth to get exposure to different careers and at least a year’s job experience.
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