Bob Dylan sang ‘Hard rains are gonna fall’ and right now Endumeni would welcome a downpour to relieve the biting drought.

However, with Council voting last night to hike up rates 8% and refuse removal by 7%, residents are in for a gloomy winter.  Electricity is going up 12%.

The debate saw the IFP and the DA wanting a 6% rates increase while the ANC and lone NFP Councillor said the increase at 8% would have to stand as the Council would have to budget for at least a 7-8% increase in salaries for municipal workers.

But the DA and IFP believed that if the new R800 000 Mayoral car, firearms costing R80 000 and four pool cars costing nearly R1-million, are chopped from the budget then a 6% increase would be possible.

The DA said the increases are way above the official inflation rate of around 4,7%.

But Mayor Mahaye said a new Mayoral car was needed as the present Audi Q7 ‘constantly packs up’.  Pool cars are needed to cut costs of paying employees’ travelling expenses when attending out of town meetings, conferences, etc. using their own vehicles.

According to Speaker Mdluli the firearms are needed as in accordance to law, ‘an entity such as the municipality must have their own firearms’.

After much debate – and despite the DA warning that the KZN Provincial Treasurer had commented that the budget was underfunded by R75-million meaning that they could not support it, it all went down to a vote which the ANC/NFP won 6-5.

FC Bester of the Endumeni Residents Association, who was in the gallery, told the Courier that the increases were ludicrous given the comments from the treasurer and the rampant theft of electricity – calculated at about R25-million a year.

He warned that the ERA would seek an interdict to stop the budget.