KwaDukuza’s electricity losses are on the wrong end of a R700-million spiral, from a R300-million surplus five years ago to over R400-million in expected losses this year.

This was revealed in last week’s municipal adjustment budget, tabled by mayor Ali Ngidi, which drew strong criticism from opposition councillors and the Dolphin Coast Residents and Ratepayers Association (Docrra).

Docrra chairman Deon Viljoen said the electricity turnaround was alarming. He said for the first time, the KwaDukuza municipality (KDM) will have to use its cash reserves to balance the budget, which will negatively impact service delivery and capital investments.

Despite this, Viljoen acknowledged the allocation of R25-million for critical equipment maintenance as a step in the right direction.

However, he stressed that KDM lacks the capacity to address major infrastructure issues, including the Dukuza Substation and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (Scada) projects, which have been promised for grid stability.

Democratic Alliance (DA) caucus leader Privi Makhan argued that the budget lacked service delivery focus.

“The R8.8-million increase in employee-related costs is unjustifiable when the electricity department has a 41% vacancy rate and critical civil service vacancies remain unfilled,” said Makhan.

She also raised concerns around a R13-million increase in security costs, which she said lacked oversight and did not address previous queries on excessive security for politicians.

“Despite there being not a single report on the monthly costs associated to security contract presented to the portfolio committee, council is expected to top this up by R13-million,” she said.

“Is this cost associated with the bloated number of security personnel needed to protect the homes of politicians?”

Meanwhile, she welcomed the R14-million allocation to address the electricity crisis in economic hubs and R10.3-million for pothole and stormwater repairs, calling on teams to ensure the money translated to visible improvements.

ActionSA caucus leader, Nel Sewraj, questioned the source of R38-million in increased revenue.

He said property rates income has historically been overestimated and called R21-million in interest earned due to project delays “unethical” as it stems from underspending on capital projects. Sewraj also highlighted a R13-million drop in electricity revenue, citing consumers going off-grid because of a lack of electrical stability. He called on serious changes to be made to improve the state of the struggling electricity department.

Mayor Ngidi said the budget had been prepared with economic and inflationary considerations in mind.

He acknowledged the impact of electricity losses on the municipality, but said the adjustment to bulk purchase figures was necessary.

“Council should note that in the four prior financial years, the bulk purchases expenditure has exceeded the budget and resulted in unauthorised expenditure,” he said.

“If the increased allocation is not considered, this will result in a repeat finding from the auditor general. However, it must be noted that the solution here is to manage and reduce energy losses, not increase the budget to fund energy losses.”

He said a task team would be formed to tackle illegal connections.

Stay in the loop with The North Coast Courier on Facebook, X, Instagram & YouTube for the latest news.

Mobile users can join our WhatsApp Broadcast Service here or if you’re on desktop, scan the QR code below.