Concerns raised that “unfunded budget” will be pushed through
According to Chris Hattingh, DA councillor, if Council forces the budget through, it would be the second consecutive year it had accepted an unfunded budget.
The state of the city and 2023/24 budget address takes place at the Dan Tloome Council Chambers tomorrow (Thursday, 8 June).
However, the Democratic Alliance is concerned that the J.B. Marks municipal council will push through an unfunded budget.
According to Chris Hattingh, DA councillor, if Council forces the budget through, it would be the second consecutive year it had accepted an unfunded budget.
“The current unfunded budget has already had devastating consequences for residents in J.B. Marks. Basic service delivery continues to deteriorate. Refuse removal, road maintenance, water and electricity supply, infrastructure maintenance and even its information technology systems are following the downward trend synonymous with what has now become the J.B. Marks trademark,” stated Hattingh.
He added that the municipality had already lost R59 million in grant funding earmarked for capital projects. This unspent grant was returned to National Treasury.
“The adopted 2022/23 capital budget has been cut by 44 per cent to R189 million, a clear indicator that the declining investment in infrastructure is perpetuating, with corresponding service delivery collapse,” he stated.
According to Hattingh, the executive mayor, Mr Gaba Ka Qhele, introduced an amount of R406 million for depreciation and debt impairment in an attempt to hide the fact that the budget was unfunded.
“The DA has already proposed how the budgetshould be funded through a budget funding plan. However, the ANC rejected it, arguing that it was, indeed, funded. The party even claimed that the Provincial Treasury’s submission that the budget was unfunded was mischievously misleading the J.B. Marks Council,” Hattingh added.
He said the ANC-led municipality was currently in “election mode” and service delivery had consequently taken a back seat.
“It remains doubtful that the ANC would be susceptible to adopting crucial amendments to the budget. The J.B. Marks community will be subjected to an anti-poor, anti-service delivery, unfunded and unsustainable 2023/24 budget.”
The budget address was initially supposed to happen on Tuesday, 6 June but the municipal spokesperson, Jeanette Tshite, notified the Herald on Monday afternoon that the address had been postponed to Thursday, 8 June.
The Herald enquired why it had been delayed but had not received feedback by the time of print.
