ADVERTISEMENT:

 
 

Generic image

“Spend less on parties”

 

“The municipality should spend less on parties and functions and more on infrastructure,” was the comment of the Democratic Alliance, following this year’s state-of-the-municipality address presented by the mayor of the Makhado Municipality on 27 June.

DA Cllr Brian Du Plooy congratulated the council on the fact that the budget had been cut back, but urged them to curb their expenditure on parties also. “Yes, acknowledge people and their needs, but cut back on expenses at functions. It is fine to host events, but make sure that service delivery comes first,” said Du Plooy. The general expenditure is R138 million in a budget where the total expenditure is R746 million. The expenditure on infrastructure is R160 million.

Council has budgeted an income of R35 million from property rates on its total income of R770 million. The DA criticized the way in which council had issued a new valuation roll where the value of some properties was doubled or trebled. “The cent-in-the-rand rate should have been kept the same as on the previous valuation roll. The municipality will earn more than enough income on the increase in valuations and should not have raised the tariffs on top of the increase in value. The burden is getting too much for the ratepayer, who has to pay an increased tariff, calculated on an increased valuation. It is not profitable to milk the only cow that produces a little milk until she is dry,” Du Plooy said.

The intention to freeze debts in the R293 towns was opposed by the DA as being against all regulations. “The programme which announced the intention to freeze the payments of debts of services alleged not to be rendered in R293 towns did not yield the expected results,” the mayor, David Mutavhatsindi, said. Du Plooy said that according to National Treasury regulations, Council cannot freeze any debts. “The residents of the R293 towns are still liable for the monies outstanding to the municipality. The debt can only be written off if the person is deceased or cannot be traced and the debt is irrecoverable. Council needs to enforce its credit control policy fully in the recovering of debts,” said Du Plooy and added that recovering the R200 million of outstanding debts could be a positive cash injection for the municipality.

Mutavhatsindi also announced that the annual Makhado Show will take place at the show grounds from 31 July to 2 August. “There is only one Makhado Annual Show. No other show must take place to confuse our residents,” Mutavhatsindi said. The DA strongly opposed the latter statement and said that it was unconstitutional to make such statements. “This is not professional, and each group has the constitutional right to organize their own events,” Du Plooy said.

The DA also said that council should understand that it exists to deliver services to all communities, irrespective of politics. “Council should not politicize everything but realize that there are many political groupings in Council,” Du Plooy said.

 

Date:11 July 2014

By: Linda van der Westhuizen

Linda van der Westhuizen has been with Zoutnet since 2001. She has a heart for God, people and their stories. Linda believes that every person is unique and has a special story to tell. It follows logically that human interest stories is her speciality. Linda finds working with people and their leaders in the economic, educational, spiritual and political arena very rewarding. “I have a special interest in what God is doing in our town, province and nation and what He wants us to become,” says Linda.

Read: 346

 

ADVERTISEMENT

 

ADVERTISEMENT:

ADVERTISEMENT:

 

Recent Articles

ADVERTISEMENT

 

Popular Articles