Ward 6 Cllr Tammy Colley writes:
The 2021/22 KwaDukuza municipal budget was passed on May 27 by all political parties represented in council, apart from the Democratic Alliance.
The ANC have presented this ‘The People’s Budget’. One can’t help but ask: which people?
Is it for those who have been waiting patiently for a house, while only 243 new houses were constructed, and only 267 handed over?
All this while continuing to allow land invasion on municipal owned land.
Is it for people who have been without streetlights and are targeted by thieves while walking home from work, while the overtime in the electrical department sits at over R1 million a month.
Is it for the people who have to endure potholed streets incurring damage to vehicles while the budget does not adequately address the renewal of existing assets by allocating 28% as opposed to the 40% to maintenance?
Or is it the budget for the 32.6% of unemployed people who have given up looking for work, while the municipality continues to pander to the unions and offers wage increases to both staff and political office bearers?
No matter how you sloganeer this budget, it certainly is not ‘The People’s Budget’.
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