Lower South Coast and Amanzimtoti branches submit proposals for IDPs
AfriForum’s Lower South Coast and Amanzimtoti branches recently submitted their proposals for the integrated development plan (IDP) to the Ray Nkonyeni Local Municipality and the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality respectively. Among other things, the branches suggested that a larger portion of the budgets should be spent on infrastructure maintenance and repairs. Furthermore, the branches also expressed concern about the amount of irregular expenses of these municipalities.
Every year community members get the opportunity to submit proposals to their municipalities which will then be considered for municipalities’ IDPs. AfriForum’s branches nationwide participate in this process and previous proposals have already been incorporated and implemented in the IDPs.
Ray Nkonyeni Local Municipality
The Lower South Coast branch believes that the Ray Nkonyeni Local Municipality should spend a larger part of the budget on maintenance and repairs. In 2021 and 2022, R46 million was spent on maintenance work, this is only 5% of the municipal budget. The national treasurer requires that at least 8% of the budget be dedicated to maintenance work. However, the branch suggests that this percentage should be increased to 9% in order to adequately maintain infrastructure.
Although the branch is satisfied that R832.7 million of the municipal budget was generated locally, there is a concern that it takes account holders an average of 175 days to settle their municipal accounts. According to the Municipal Financial Management Act, all monies owed to the municipality must be paid within 30 days of receipt of the bill. According to the AfriForum branch, the municipality should act more strictly so that payment can be made more quickly.
According to Theuns Boshoff, chairperson of AfriForum’s Lower South Coast branch, it is important to participate in the IDP process in order to ensure that the municipality is aware of the community’s needs and concerns.
“If the municipality does not want to spend a larger part of the budget on maintenance and repair work, the decaying infrastructure and networks will further hamper service delivery. There are also several streets on the Lower South Coast that urgently need to be repaired and the Ray Nkonyeni Municipality must also do proper planning so that the local water and sewage networks can be upgraded in a few years,” Boshoff says.
eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality
AfriForum’s Amanzimtoti branch expressed their opinion on the auditor general’s finding that there was uncompetitive and irregular procurement at the eThekwini Metro especially in respect of grants made to family members. The branch suggests that urgent precautions should be put in place in order to eliminate these irregularities.
Although the metro spent 8.9% of the municipal budget on maintenance and repair work, the AfriForum branch believes that this percentage should be increased to 15%, especially with the flood damage considered.
About R4.8 billion of the municipal budget was also attributed to fruitless and wasteful expenditure. The branch considers this to be unacceptable especially because this expenditure in 2021/2022 was higher than previous years.
Account holders of the eThekwini Metro take an average of 88 days to settle their accounts while the Metro itself takes an average of 71 days to pay their own bills. In addition, 58% of the Metro’s bills are not recovered at all.
According to Jannie van Staden, chairperson of AfriForum’s Amanzimtoti branch, the Metro has an obligation towards the community to ensure that the budget is used correctly in order to meet the community’s needs.
“We also requested that several streetlights in Amanzimtoti should be repaired, the cleanliness of some parks should also be stepped up and Beach Road should be urgently repaired. The South Coast is dependent on tourism and the state of some infrastructure is hurting the local tourism industry,” concludes Van Staden.
Eugene van Aswegen, AfriForum’s Provincial Coordinator for KwaZulu-Natal, believes that unnecessary wastage of funds has a serious impact on service delivery, tourism and the local economy. “AfriForum’s branches in KwaZulu-Natal are actively participating in the IDP process and it is also necessary that we comment on the findings of the auditor general so that we can ensure that municipalities fulfill their obligations. The proposals we submit are formulated to improve service delivery and we hope that the municipalities really take them to heart.”
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