This money will come from the R1,620 billion budget for the 2021/2022 financial year presented by the mayor, Maripe Mangena, on Tuesday 20 April.

In recent weeks the Herald reported on the inadequate state of the electricity infrastructure within the region.

Mangena also announced that the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) has given the municipality an unqualified audit opinion for the financial year 2019/2020.

This means that GTM was able to account for, take good care of and correctly use the public purse according to acceptable accounting standards.

As a result, they have received a R9.5 million bonus as a token of appreciation for the hard work and commitment in terms of implementing and spending the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) from the National Treasury.

Also read: Audit opinion: Greater Tzaneen Municipality regress from good to bad

“I would like to extend a word of gratitude to the relevant portfolio committee and department, as well as the community for not disturbing the implementation of projects so that we are able to spend accordingly and get a bonus which is very rare,” Mangena stated.

The total operational expenditure over the next year amounts to R1,459 billion with the salary bill at R355 million and bulk purchases at R475 million.

For capital projects, R130 million has been allocated including R94.7 million from MIG grants and R35.4 million from own funding.

The mayor added that GTM will not be taking any loans for the 2021/2022 financial year.

Some of the projects planned include the Lenyenye street paving project (R1 million), Matapa to Leseka access road (R4.7 million), Nkowankowa Section D street paving (R1 million) and the Mulati access road paving (R13.9 million) amongst many.

The municipality and Eskom will also furnish households with electricity through the Integrated National Electrification Programme.

Also read: GTM receives a unqualified audit and greenest muni award

A total of 801 households will be connected to the grid at a cost of R16 million.

GTM is currently in stage 3 of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) process (which is the project phase).

It means projects have been identified according to the needs of communities and are now presented to them.

This will be followed by the integration phase and then the final phase which is approved by council.

The approved IDP and the budget will be implemented from 1 July 2021.

The detailed draft IDP and draft budget are available on the municipality’s website, at all municipal offices, libraries and Thusong centres.

It can be viewed and commented on before 15 May.