The Emalahleni Local Municipality held a Mayoral Imbizo (meeting) with the purpose of listening to Cluster 1’s concerns and aspirations.
The outreach meeting was held at Sinqobile Community Hall on Saturday, April 8.
The capital budget for the 2017/2018 is sitting at R261 137 850 which has not changed from the previous financial year.
The first item on the agenda was the introduction of Councillors and officials which was done by the Council’s Speaker, Cllr Busi Hlubane.
She briefly outlined to the gathering, which consisted of 11 wards, the municipality’s promise to deliver according to the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and to also present and consult with the people on the proposed budget.
An in depth explanation of the day’s proceedings was tackled by the Executive Mayor of Emalahleni, Cllr Ntshalintshali. The meeting aims to present and get consultation on the proposed budget IDP (2017 – 2022) before its adoption. It is also to inform the community about the proposed tariff increases and the budgeted capital projects for 2017/2018. Key issues on the table were tariff increases, youth unemployment and the building of a drug rehab centre.
Before she began her presentation she made reference to her disappointment yet again of parties such as the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus (FF+) that were not present during the start of the gathering.
Two EFF councillors did however join the meeting later on.
“Such a tendency shall not be tolerated, as what is to be discussed here will affect everyone.” Cllr Ntshalintshali continued.
The first citizen of the city wants to restore the dignity of the municipality by dealing with corrupt employees in the office amongst other issues. She firmly stated that those people will be fired.
She pointed out that some employees have already been shown the door giving an example of theft of diesel from their truck depots and that of workers that assist community members to connect electricity illegally.
Cllr Ntshalinsthali said that Ward 1 has a poor payment record as far as rates and taxes are concerned with only a meagre 4% actually paying. Bear in mind that the number of houses there is approximately 4000 meaning that less than 10 are responsible citizens.
The biggest issue that kept citizens on the edge of their couches was the Eskom bill.
“If you do not pay us, we can not pay Eskom and use some of the money left over to fix potholes and provide clean water.”
She mentions that such people are denying improvement in the city by not playing their part.
“We must learn to use electricity wisely, what is the purpose of switching on the geyser the whole day. Learn to prioritise important things first in your household like paying electricity, water etc before anything else” said Cllr Ntshalintshali.
Another problem the council is facing is that business people that get awarded with tenders and do not provide quality work. Cllr Ntshalintshali gave an example of potholes.
According to the 2017/2018 draft budget sub-heading, unemployment rate is sitting at 26.6%, and it is on the increase especially amongst the youth while the operating revenue for electricity is 38.99% and water is 14.64%.
Accusations that the municipality is corrupt and is not working hard enough must be put to bed as they are still paying off debts of the previous people that worked for the council. Despite being placed between a rock and a hard place, progress is being made.
“Please stop striking and burning tyres and so forth as this will not solve the problem. Some of you, fail to submit relevant qualifications, as you do not have them. Now because you burned those tyres the municipality has to go back and fix the roads, spending additional amounts of money.”
To curb that, the office has a bursary scheme to promote education, with R1 000 000 having been allocated to this portfolio.
Their 2017/2018 externally funded report consists of a Library in Thubelihle and because they want to provide an enabling environment for social and recreational development, building of a drug rehab centre will be underway soon. “We must fight this habit. There must be a clean, healthy and safe environment for all of us to live in.” as Cllr Ntshalintshali uttered these words the crowd clapped.
The vision of the municipality has been polished.
“To be a centre of excellence and innovation” with the tagline: “Emalahleni, the energy heartbeat of the Southern Africa and economic hub of Mpumalanga”.
“Because we are known for power stations and coal, there must be precinct projects which will well describe that. It must be visible on the entrance of the place. We are working towards making the area a metropolitan municipality.”
To live up to their vision under the five proposed priorities, number one is service delivery.
The time came for a discussion where the pubic were given a chance to ask questions about the budget to the Executive Mayor who gladly answered. A total of 20 people were given an opportunity to come in front to have their say.
Critical remarks were balanced by many good comments as some complimented the municipality for the great work they have done.
“We appreciate that you see our hard work” said Cllr Ntshalintshali.
With the first session of the imbizo done and dusted the following one was held at Lynnville Community Hall. Other places that also got a chance to hear the presentation were residents of Phola and Thubelihle on Sunday, April 9 then on Monday, April 10 at eMalahleni City Hall.
READ ALSO:
https://www.citizen.co.za/witbank-news/87750/video-2017-budget-speech-explained/
