SENIORS managers at the City of uMhlathuze will be held accountable for the ‘dismal’ under spending of the capital budget at the end of the financial year.
Councillors dished out a stern warning to the municipal administration at Tuesday’s Exco meeting after it was reported that capital expenditure stood at an alarmingly low 37% at the end of May.
Cllr Manie Lourens said it was ‘unacceptable’ that the municipality had ‘failed to deliver’ on core priorities of government.
‘Only 15% of the budget has been spent on health, 14% on public safety and 29% on water.
‘The Deputy Municipal Managers and managers under them must be held accountable. We as politicians have to answer to the people,’ said Lourens.
The financial report presented to Council as at 31 May showed that only 19% of the health and sport and recreation budgets had been spent.
Councillor Louis Fourie also expressed concern over the slow pace of spending when it came to the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) funding of more than R83-million and a further rollover of R64-million.
Only R58-million has been spent out of the combined MIG total.
‘Each department must commit themselves to spending our capital budget. This is a disgrace,’ said uMhlathuze Deputy Mayor Vera Gumbi.
Streamlined
City Mayor Elphas Mbatha said the supply chain process had to be streamlined to ensure that service providers were on the ground sooner.
‘There needs to be a strategy planning session and the finance department should lead this discussion between departments,’ Mbatha said.
City Chief Financial Officer, Mxolisi Kunene assured Council there was a plan in place to accelerate capital spending.
‘The June financial report will show where the municipality is at in terms of overall spending,’ said Kunene
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