DA rejects record KwaDukuza budget

The 2016/2017 KwaDukuza budget of R1,6 billion, the biggest budget in council history, was approved by all parties last week, except the Democratic Alliance (DA).

R1,3 billion has been allocated for operational expenses and a balance of R300 million towards capital expenditure.

KwaDukuza mayor, Ricardo Mthembu highlighted the serious economic and political challenges the municipality is facing.

“The international and national trends do not present a bright picture about the future for emerging economies, such as ours, as the world faces lower commodity prices and strains in some large emerging market economies.

“This will continue to impact negatively on growth prospects in 2016-2017. As a result of this slower economic performance, the domestic economy is under severe pressure,” he said.

Local political stability was fragile, with many communities demanding housing and jobs, as well as dissatisfaction with the nominations of councillors – a matter which had nothing to do with the municipality.

“Council has engaged communities in various occasions to inform them about the progress and challenges we face with regard to service delivery related projects, yet when people engage in protests it is as though they are not informed.”

He accused others, whom he did not identify, of using these issues for political gain.

DA leader in council, Cllr Madhun Sobram Sing did not share his opinion that the budget was people-centered and would advance the delivery of services.

“We are concerned about the employee costs. Only critical posts should be filled that add value to basic service delivery, rather than a bloated, unproductive workforce. In 2012, employee costs was R200 million and now it stands at R323 million – almost a 61% increase,” said Sing.

“The public participation budget has doubled from R4.2 million to R8.3m in two years. Recently council steamrolled R650 000 for Africa Day Celebration.

“We must be frugal and not frivolous with ratepayers’ money and we believe that kind of money could have well been spent on clean-up operations in our town and wards.”

A further concern was that council had failed to carry out the customer satisfaction survey in the last five years, which he said would most probably have a revealed a negative outlook.

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