GROSS underspending by the City of uMhlathuze means officials will now have to spend almost double of the total capital expenditure amounting to more than R419-million in this financial year.
This after dormant funds of more than R160-million from the previous financial year were rolled over and included with this year’s allocation.
This effectively means the municipality must spend about R34.9-million every month to ensure earmarked service delivery projects are completed.
Presenting the adopted 2014/15 budget at the Executive Committee meeting in Richards Bay on Tuesday, Mayor Elphas Mbatha said the situation was ‘critical’ and the time for empty promises was over.
‘If we don’t see improvement on the ground, whatever you say to us is cold comfort,’ Mbatha told officials.
‘We are getting very impatient because we are far behind in terms of service delivery. Everyone coming to work must work. Every department has a rollover. This picture is not good and things are not fine,’ said Mbatha.
Fire
Officials came under fire as Councillors questioned whether the municipality had the capacity to spend the exorbitant amount every month.
‘Have we started with a plan? Something needs to be done. For most of the years, the capital spend was lower than 50%, which is not a good thing,’ Cllr DA Nxumalo said.
‘Poor planning was previously identified as one of the reasons behind the underspending. A crack team from province was sent to help us. What is the progress?’ said Cllr MM Mbokazi.
Deputy Mayor Vera Gumbi said it was discouraging that the City continued the trend of underspending while smaller municipalities were spending well on service delivery projects.
‘If we are incompetent then we need to know. We can’t take this anymore. Our municipality is regarded as one of the best municipalities countrywide yet we are going down every year. We always come to these meetings and cry and cry.’
Capacity
Municipal Manager Dr NJ Sibeko conceded that capacity was a problem and said the provincial crack team had assisted in streamlining their approach.
However, Acting Deputy Manager: Infrastructure and Technical Services Tumelo Gopane said the municipality had the capacity to spend and promised that by the end of June, spending would have improved to above 50%.
‘This is a big improvement from the 13% spend in January. By the Christmas break, there should be a 60% capital expenditure,’ said Gopane.
However, the administration is also in the process of applying for a rollover of Municipal Infrastructure Grant funding totalling R80 million.
‘Even if we end on a capital spend of 55% by June, this is not much improvement,’ Mbatha said.
