Springs will only get R39-million of Ekurhuleni Metro’s 2014/15 R28.9-billion capital budget.
This was the reaction of Dean Stone ward councillor of Ward 75 after Moses Makwakwa, Ekurhuleni’s MMC for Finance visited Springs and Kwatsaduza during a recent roadshow to explain the budget to residents of the city.
Stone said Ekurhuleni’s capital budget was for establishing new infrastructures or upgrading existing ones.
He compared the R39-m allocated to Springs in the captial budget to the R246-m spent on President Zuma’s homestead in Nkandla.
The money budgeted in the capital budget for Springs will go towards similar projects as the president’s new kraal or swimming pool.
He felt the metro did not care about the needs of the residents of Springs.
The ward councillors and their ward committees drew up lists of the needs of their communities for the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), on which the metro’s yearly budget was based.
“Many of these needs are not even mentioned in the budget.”
Stone said the number one issue in his ward, housing for the community of Never-Never Informal Settlement, off the Paul Kruger Highway, was not even mentioned in the budget.
This issue had been on the IDP for Ward 75 since 2006, but has been ignored since then.
“These people have been living here for 19 years and Ekurhuleni pretends they don’t exist,” he said.
Two other important issues from Ward 75, the upgrade of PAM Brink Stadium and upgrading of the dam opposite Rus ‘n Bietjie, were also omitted from the budget.
The captial budget will bring electricfication and upgrading of roads and stormwater drains to this ward.
Stone said Springs could also benefit from the operational budget that covers the metro’s day-to-day expenses.
This budget is drawn up per department in the metro and not per town or city, which does not guarantee that any money will be spent in Springs.
He was worried that enough of the operational funds earmarked for Springs in the operational budget, would be spent here as many departments do not spend all its funds during a financial year.
Stone said people living in his ward did pay for their services, as a 91.6% collection rate for this year reflected this.
They therefore deserve a good part of the metro’s budget.
The Advertiser contacted Clrs Ramesh Sheodin of Ward 72 and Shadow Shabangu of Ward 76 regarding their views of the budget, but received no comment at the time of going to press.
