Endumeni Council finally adopted the 2023/2024 budget with some councillors still on the fence about the changes done to the re-drafted budget.
“Considering the economic realities of consumers and also the necessity to ensure sustainability, it would be necessary to increase certain tariffs to fund the expenditure provided by the budget”, explained municipal manager, Sthembiso Ntombela. He continued by saying that there will be an increase of 5% for refuse removal and 15.10% for the electricity tariff. This increase would have been 18.6% in the proposed budget which the majority of councillors rejected.
Mayor Siyabonga Ndlovu told the council that ‘a lot of concerns were raised during the previous council meeting which was taken into consideration during the recent budget steering committee meeting’.
“We had a representative from CoGTA, a representative from the provincial treasury, and we deliberated to make sure that this budget was credible and I am glad that we all reached common ground”, he explained. Most of the opposition councillors were very adamant about not adopting the unfunded budget as it will have a negative impact on service delivery.
DA Cllr Gopie told the council that the municipality has been given a qualified audit report for years. He feared that the municipality may soon not be able to pay salaries.
The council must be mindful of the municipality’s credit rating if the budget continues to be unfunded, this will result in it not meeting tax obligations meaning legal and financial penalties”, explained Cllr Gopie.
African National Congress (ANC) caucus chairperson, Cllr Siphamandla Kheswa, said his party supports this unfunded budget that was adopted. There was a focus on the Eskom debt which has escalated to R108.8 Million due to the municipality’s failure to collect revenue due to meter tampering.
ANC Cllr Sduduzo Mdluli told the council that ‘although Treasury is willing to help with a debt reduction 30% of its Eskom debt, the municipality needs to adhere to the conditions attached to ‘this deal’. “We are in fear, no money means the municipality will be unable to deliver services to the community, lot needs to be done in terms of cost containment measures such as personal guides
