Emfuleni Municipality spends only 1.6% of revenue on infrastructure maintenance
The FF Plus welcomes the recognition of the Emfuleni local municipality (Evaton, Sebokeng, Vaal Oewer, Vanderbijlpark, Vereeniging)'s mayoral committee member for public works, Bheki Ntsele, that the total collapse of service delivery in the area can be attributed to the lack of sustained infrastructure maintenance work.
The municipality spends only 1.6% of its revenue on maintenance and repair of infrastructure.
Ntsele confirmed in a radio interview that the municipality has not focused on infrastructure maintenance for the past 27 years.
He further acknowledged that the municipality’s lack of money is a direct result of a small group of residents paying for services while the vast majority of residents receive services for which they do not pay. The situation has deteriorated so much in recent years that the municipality is forced to apply load shedding.
Maladministration, corruption and political appointments are among the biggest reasons why the Emfuleni municipality is unable to provide proper services and leaves residents without electricity and water for days while sewage flows in the streets.
Ratings Africa Municipal Financial Sustainability Index, which measures municipalities’ financial sustainability in terms of operating performance, liquidity management, debt management, budgetary practices, affordability and infrastructure development, gave Emfuleni a score of 21 out of 100 for infrastructure development.
Ntsele’s further recognition that the municipality has become a job creation agency for service providers is also one of the bottlenecks that the FF Plus has been warning against for some time. The municipality has a trained staff that is able to do the job, but instead, essential services are outsourced.
The FF Plus has already raised the Emfuleni Municipality’s problems at various levels of government and demands that officials and politicians, who are responsible for the municipality’s financial problems and poor service delivery, be prosecuted.
The FF Plus will put constant pressure on the Emfuleni municipality to provide residents with the services they pay for.
