Budget battle intensifies

“The provisions of the MFMA only provide for a municipal council of a municipality to either approve the annual budget of the municipality or not. An annual budget cannot ‘provisionally’ or ‘conditionally’ be approved, as alleged in the media statements.”
This was the response of the office of the municipal manager (MM) over allegations that the municipal budget for 2020/2021 was not approved.
According to Hans-Jurie Moolman, the caucus leader of the DA, council, as a collective, decided to set conditions for approving the budget. Therefore, if these conditions are not met, then the council, as a collective, cannot pass the budget. According to him, the verbatim record, which is a sound recording of the council meeting, reflects that this decision was made by council as a collective and was not only conditions set by the DA.
According to Lebu Ralekgetho, the MM, the council resolution clearly states that the budget was approved.
‘The portion of the resolution doing so read as follows: “Resolved: 1. That the 2020/2021 Annual Budget Medium Term Revenue and Expenditure Framework (MTREF), for the J.B. Marks Local Municipality be approved.” The said resolution went on to state: “2. That a Special Council Meeting is convened within 14 days for management to respond to questions posed as non-negotiable conditions by the Democratic Alliance…” and that cognisance is taken of other matters,” said Ralekgetho in a statement.
According to Chris Hattingh, a DA councillor, the council resolution that the MM refers to, was altered and did not reflect what the council agreed upon on 3 July.
“The budget decision was premised upon unconditionally and unanimously adopting a written proposal submitted by the DA.
“Paragraph 1 of the adopted, written proposal reads as follows:
‘1. That the IDP and budget be provisionally and conditionally adopted.’
Paragraph 4 of the adopted, written proposal reads as follows:
‘4. That the final approval of the budget is suspended upon the fulfillment of the above- mentioned conditions on or before 14 July 2020 and that a failure to meet the said conditions will result in the rejection of the budget with prospective effect and as from 14 July 2020, up until the conditions are adhered to.’
“The only change that was adopted was that 14 July was substituted with a period of 14 days from 3 July 2020.
“Meanwhile, the DA has reported a case of fraud in respect of the council resolutions being altered and used to make certain misrepresentations to the Hawks. The party will await the outcome of the investigation,” said Hattingh. He has provided the Herald with a printed version of the verbatim record.
The conditions for the approval of the budget include several reports. Among them are all the overtime that was paid in the previous financial year, any investigations into irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure for the last four fiscal years and full details of all legal proceedings for or against the J.B. Marks Local Municipality in the past five years. They include a detailed breakdown of all private security services rendered to the council in the past three years and full details of all transactions concluded with service providers below the threshold of R30,000 in the past three financial years. Another condition is a record of all the means that were employed in removing household waste, concerning the use of waste trucks for the past two fiscal years. Written proof that all directors and senior managers were appointed in line with the council resolutions is also required.
According to Moolman, no reports have been sent to the council, nor has the continuation of the council meeting taken place.
“Municipalities across the country adopted their budgets with certain conditions attached for approval. There is nothing new about a budget being approved with certain conditions.”
“The conditions in question have no bearing on the budget itself as management will have to deal with those issues administratively,” Ralekgetho said in a previous statement to the Herald.
The municipal spokesperson, Willie Maphosa, told News24 that, according to the council resolution, the budget was adopted on 3 July and the use of the word “provisional” in a subsequent media statement was “an honest mistake”. Yet, earlier, he had replied to the Herald’s enquiries by stating that, “The final approval of the budget depends on the administration submitting certain outstanding reports related to municipal operations. Council will reconvene on or after 14 July 2020 to consider these reports and then pronounce substantively on the status of the budget.”
According to Dr. Len Mortimer from the School of Public Leadership at Stellenbosch University, if the budget is not approved, then the MEC needs to intervene in terms of section 139 of the constitution. “Except if the municipality was given exemption from the MEC to carry on with the previous year’s budget. If not, any expenses would be deemed as unauthorised expenditure,” he said.