The KwaDukuza Municipality’s 2021-2022 mid-year performance assessment for the 6 months ending in December, has revealed under-collection of R104-million and underspending of R154-million, leaving an operating surplus in its budget of R42-million.
Tabled at council last week, concerns were raised about the under-collection of revenue reaching alarming proportions.
“This is caused mostly by electricity billing which fell short by R110 million,” said ActionSA PR councillor, Nel Sewraj.
“Electricity billing for December, which amounted to R70-million, was only done on January 7 but the remaining R40 million shortfall still represents a significant under-collection.”
Democratic Alliance caucus leader and ward 6 councillor, Tammy Colley, commented on the performance of service delivery business units.
“We are very concerned that the submissions of these units do not match the situation on the ground. For example, the majority of funds for streetlights have already been spent, yet this issue still plagues our municipality.
“This is also the case in the civil engineering department report, which claimed mid-year targets had been met. The reality is that much of the work will have to be redone,” Colley said.
KDM council speaker, Dolly Govender, closed by highlighting the over-reliance of the municipality on outside contractors to complete work.
“If we had taken note of the warning signs years ago and had a wake-up call, then the work could all have been done in-house instead of through tender processes. This needs to change.”
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