City of Ekurhuleni close to bankruptcy – ANC
CoE, governed by an ANC-EFF coalition, has both parties holding five portfolios each in the mayoral committee.
The ANC in Ekurhuleni expressed its concerns with the current state of the municipality’s finances at a media briefing on September 28 in Germiston.
The city, governed by an ANC-EFF coalition, has both parties holding five portfolios each in the mayoral committee.
Speaking at the briefing, ANC caucus whip Jongizizwe Dlabathi said the city is close to bankruptcy.
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Dlabathi doesn’t support some of CoE’s approaches to revenue collection and said that the city’s revenue collection has severely deteriorated.
“We are simply in a state of hand-to-mouth and it presents a dire financial state.
“We consistently call for effective approaches to prevent the city from bankruptcy,” said Dlabathi.
The other issues that were raised were basic service delivery provision, disruptions in the supply of water and electricity, municipal programmes and collaborative governance.
He issued a reminder that CoE has a standing commitment that basic services must be provided in a sustainable manner and with minimal interruptions.
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“We are concerned about the levels of service interruptions in recent months, particularly in the supply of water and electricity.
“Leakages on sewer lines are also a worry, given the serious health risk that it poses due to unattended sewer spillages,” said Dlabathi who added that poor response times add to more concerns.
“There is a lack of efficient response to water, electricity and sewer queries,” said Dlabathi.
He urged CoE to strengthen human capacity, in particularly electricity and water technicians.
“The city needs to ensure the availability of key materials required to fix basic queries that are related to water, sanitation and electricity.
Poor communication and the lack of providing sufficient water relief form part of our observation, as and when there are water interruptions.
“Both the city’s water department and Rand Water must work together to restore a full and sustainable supply of water.
“Where we may need to adjust budgets to accelerate infrastructure repairs, the ANC caucus will certainly give support,” said Dlabathi.
GCN questioned the coalition relationship and whether there are cracks in relations with parties not sharing the same vision for Ekurhuleni.
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“A coalition requires collaborative governance that is committed to a coordinated way of doing things, as opposed to political competition.
“Linked to a co-ordinated approach is that parties must subject themselves to the approved municipal programme and mayoral outreach work.
“We need to appreciate the separation of powers by all parties to the collaborative governance, including the fact that municipal activities must not be conflated with party politics,” said Dlabathi.
He called on the executive and the administration to do everything possible to ensure the sustainable provision of services.
