Communities feel excluded as municipalities push ahead with IDP budgets

Nobody is listening to the residents of municipalities where service delivery is problematic or non-existent.

Their input at public hearings as part of the municipal Integrated Development Planning (IDP) process is being ignored.

The IDP is a programme designed to guide municipal development and service delivery by incorporating residents’ views that should be included in the next budget.

With the current financial year ending on 30 June, and a new one starting from 1 July, many municipalities are expected to conclude their IDP process in preparation for the tabling of the 2025-26 budget or the three-year medium term budget.

Residents sidelined

The fact that residents’ inputs carry no weight is a violation of the constitution, which makes it obligatory for municipalities and the state itself to take people’s views into account before making decisions.

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Emfuleni Ratepayers’ Association chair Kobus Janse van Rensburg said: “I can categorically deny that any input from any citizen or ratepayer is actually taken seriously.

“I say this because a lot of the wards at Emfuleni attend IDP meetings and submit documents stating categorically their reasons why they are against the new tariff increases.”

Despite many objections from ratepayers, Emfuleni’s property valuations had been increased year-on-year unilaterally by the municipality, he said.

This was while the municipality itself was responsible for the devaluation of residents’ properties and for causing businesses to close because of poor infrastructure, particularly roads.

‘They don’t maintain anything’

“They don’t maintain anything or expand any infrastructure to cope with the demand from the large number of people who come to this municipality,” Janse van Rensburg said.

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There had been no improvement or expansion of services, although Emfuleni’s population had grown to almost a million.

“This municipality is run by a bunch of delinquent people out specifically for enriching themselves. The main objective of this council is to cater for the salaries while service delivery, which should be their main concern, is last on the list,” he said.

Residents retaliate

As a fightback strategy, Emfuleni residents withheld payments to the tune of R1.7 billion since 2018. The residents said they should not pay for services they do not receive.

The law allowed them to withhold payments, which they deposited into a trust fund, until the problems were fixed.

Civil society organisation Dear South Africa’s founder, Robert Hutchinson, said: “Whatever the government, it has to conduct a public consultation process. If they don’t, they open themselves to being challenged in court. But mostly they tick boxes to show they consulted people.”

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