Also read: City passes audit with flying colours
EKURHULENI’S achievement of a clean audit doesn’t mean the city is free of corruption or is well managed, says the DA.
The opposition party released a statement saying that while it recognised the metro’s receiving of a clean audit in December, this still did not take away from all the ongoing problems the city is facing with regards to administration and service delivery.
Clr Bruce Reid highlighted that Ekurhuleni was still experiencing several issues pertaining to low collection rates within the finance department and a high total expenditure rate used towards employee-related costs.
“The finance department is fairly well run but it can only set an example to other departments if it drastically improves several areas, including collection rates which are still far too low. Currently the collection rate is 90.14% which is 2.86% lower than the ruling party’s target of 93% and well below the DA’s preferred target rate of 95%,” Reid said.
“Nearly a quarter of Ekurhuleni’s total expenditure in the 2014 audited statements went to employee-related costs. The exorbitant R23 billion staff bill does not give residents value for money when one takes into account the poor levels of service delivery.”
According to Reid, depreciation has also dropped in the last few years by over R90 million. This means the city is not replacing its assets and this might lead to bigger problems in the long-run.
“For example, the life span of a road is projected to be 30 years, on condition it is maintained properly and has a re-tarred surface every seven years. However, when this maintenance does not take place, the life span of the road is drastically reduced and will have to be replaced far sooner than the 30-year mark.
“In the electricity department old infrastructure is responsible for more and more power outages not related to load shedding.”
According to the party, the metro is nowhere near the National Treasury’s recommended percentage spend.
“In the 2013/2014 financial year the metro underspent by R500 million on urgently required maintenance and in the first half of this financial year, it has not even managed to reach the reduced budgeted amount. The total figure for unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure is R209 million, which is excessively high.”
Of this R209 million, R25 million was awarded to metro employees and R111 million in irregular roads contracts.
