FTLM mayor bemoans VBS effects during Solma

APEL – The mayor of Fetakgomo Tubatse Local Municipality (FTLM), Naume Phala, pleaded with the municipality’s employees and communities to stop tribalism.

Phala was speaking during her first State of the Local Municipality Address (Solma) held in Moses Mabotha Hall at Ga-Nkwana last Friday.

This was the third Solma since the merger between Fetakgomo and Greater Tubatse local municipalities.

“We are saddened by the recent developments taking place in the municipality, which are aimed at destabilising the institution and bringing confusion among people. We must rise above such petty issues of tribalism and regionalism, which should not be allowed to prevail among us.”

The mayor was referring to the recent calls by municipal employees to have the FTLM merger dissolved.

“We call upon our employees not to fall into this trap. Our responsibility is to bring quality services to communities and our officials are at the centre of the provision of the services.”

On acceleration of services, Phala said they have taken note of suggestions made by the public during the integrated development plan (IDP) meetings.

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She said during the IDP consultations they realised that local communities were in need of clean and reliable water, access to roads, provision of electricity and employment opportunities.

She said FTLM is operating under tight financial circumstances and therefore they were unable to cater to all the needs the community raised.

“It will need a collective effort to find ways towards financial recovery,” the mayor said.

She said the council resolved to recoup the investment made with VBS Mutual Bank.

“We hope whatever we get shall go a long way in assisting with the provision of basic services. The municipality will continue to implement cost containment measures until the financial situation is stable.”

According to Phala, FTLM was concerned about the drug scourge affecting the local youth. “I want to make it my priority to mobilise resources to make sure we open avenues for young people addicted to drugs and other substances. The health workers and SAPS cannot win this war on drugs if we don’t join them in the drive to rid our society of it.”

On local economy, she admitted that FTLM failed local businesses.

“We have failed many of our SMMEs because most of our programmes and projects were shelved as a result of financial constraints due to the loss of the investment made with VBS Mutual Bank. We must confess that the loss affected the municipality negatively as we were on the brink of total collapse.”

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She revealed that the municipality had to adjust their budget twice in the last financial year in order to comply with Treasury regulations.

Phala also encouraged women and the youth to tap into agriculture, as it is one of the drivers of the economy.

“In the next financial year, we have set aside an amount of R1,1 million to sustain eight agricultural projects and assist five new projects. Although the allocation is not enough, it will go a long way in ensuring those projects kick off the ground and are sustainable,” she added.

She once again apologised to the crowd for not fulfilling the promises made during the 2018/19 IDP and budget consultations.

“It was a difficult decision not to implement all the projects and we had no means to survive. We have learned a lot from the financial crisis and we are working around the clock to restore the credibility of our institution.

“We must mention that the municipality is operating under severe financial pressure, and our people should understand as we are heavily dependent on conditional grants from Treasury and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.”

The mayor also gave a glimmer of hope on multi-year projects.

She insisted that the Leboeng access road, Motodi Sports Complex, Mapodile Sports Complex, Praktiseer Testing Station upgrade and Tukakgomo internal streets will be completed before the end of the calendar year.

She revealed that they were also hoping that contractors would be on site with the electrification of Phelindaba, Khalanyoni, Dithabaneng and Mashamothane before the end of the financial year.

The mayor apologised to the communities that were affected by the failed Operation Mabone initiative. The programme was earmarked to electrify about 28 villages in and around Tubatse.

“We apologise to communities affected by the Operation Mabone programme for not fulfilling our promises made during the 2018/19 financial year. We were forced by circumstances beyond our control not to implement the programme in the remaining villages, except Koppie and Buffelshoek where Eskom has energised. In the 2019/20 financial year we have put aside R20 million to complete the project.”

She said the money was not enough to cover all villages, but they have embarked on a drive to solicit funds from the local mines to adopt other villages.

According to the mayor, a total of 1 604 households will be electrified.

On mining, Phala revealed that FTLM gave recognition letters to community structures in Ngwaabe/Steelpoort and Tjibeng/Mooilek areas to be engagement forums with the mines on socio-economic issues affecting their constituencies.

“Since April 2019 we have embarked on a drive to visit all the mines to strengthen relations and find ways to improve the community. To date, we have visited Samancor, Glencore and Anglo-American Platinum and we can report that our engagements were positive and a step in a right direction. We shall continue with visits to all other mining houses before the end of September 2019.”

In concluding, the mayor revealed that the municipality’s total budget for 2019/20 financial year is R731 million. Revenue from grants and subsidies amounts to

R524 million for 2019/20. Equitable share is R415 million, while municipal infrastructure grant funding is R84 million and integrated national electrification grant is R20 million.