The devil is in the detail

The Integrated Development Plan draft has been tabled.

The draft contains news that residents are not receiving well especially being in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Not only have many people taken pay-cuts, but many have also lost their jobs.

But, unfortunately, the budget is here to stay.

WITBANK NEWS asked former local councillor and political analyst, Mr Clive Hatch what he thought about the budget.

“On the face of it the budget would appear to be reasonable but the devil is in the detail, of what is not known or revealed and the reasonableness of the assumptions,” Hatch said. 

He applauds the municipality’s financial team for the fact that the tariff increases imposed by the municipality are below the inflation rate and said it is “commendable”.

“The issues that concern me are the assumptions attainable or is council approving a budget that is flawed and will, in fact, be unfunded. My concerns are that the budget assumes a payment rate of 70% of the municipal accounts, currently, the payment rate is below 70% and in view of the current rising rate of unemployment as a result of the COVID-19 it is highly unlikely that this budget will be attained thus resulting in an unfunded budget.”

There are no plans spelt out how the payment rate will be increased.

Hatch asked if there are any measures in place to reduce expenditure on staff remuneration in line with the views outlined by the minister of finance during the national budget.

He also highlighted that what rates of losses in the distribution of electricity and water are budgeted for compared to the current actual losses? What steps are being taken to reduce these losses?

Then the million-dollar question, there does not appear to be any steps to reduce the amount owed to Eskom, and with a budgeted, unlikely to be achieved, payment rate of 70% the Eskom bill will continue to increase.

“Are there any feasible plans in action to prevent Eskom from implementing power cuts to Emalahleni?” he asked. 

Hatch said he is unable to establish if there are sufficient funds to reduce the almost constant water shortages that are becoming a feature of life for many residents. Hardly a day goes by that there are no water outages in Extensions 10; 12; 5; and 3 as well as to many other areas, this at a time when people are meant to wash their hands with soap and water regularly

The only sure way to reduce unemployment and alleviate poverty is to attract investment into the town. This will not happen until the council makes a determined effort to clean up the town, this should start with municipal workers not leaving their rubble on the pavements or in the road. Potholes must be repaired that potential investors can drive on the roads, street lights repaired, and refuse collected on time.

“Regrettably I do not see provision for these essentials in this budget,” Hatch added.