When is a mess, not a mess? When it is in dire straits…

So was the debate at last week’s Endumeni Council where Cllr Saleem Abdool was berated for describing the financial situation in the municipality as ‘a mess’.

Cllrs Pakathi and Sadeck objected to the term ‘mess’ as they felt it was derogatory to the institution and by definition to themselves.

Cllr Abdool duly withdrew the word and declared that ‘Endumeni is in dire straits’.

His comments arose from his executive committee report where he said the municipality’s cash coverage was around 0,14% where the suggested amount is over 2. According to legislation, a municipality should have three months of cash coverage, to pay suppliers etc.

With the Eskom debt at around R190-million, more should be done to enhance revenue collection without which the ability to offer service delivery is severely compromised, Cllr Abdool told the meeting.

He also touched on the possibility of allowing private participation in running municipal recreation facilities such as the McHardy dam which the municipality cannot fund.

There is also the strain of having around 4400 prepaid electricity meters for which power is not being bought.

“We have to tackle these huge issues by the horns and it is a challenge that we are all facing and our new Mayor Mkhize needs to be aware of these (challenges).”

Fellow exco member, Cllr Shelembe concurred with Cllr Abdool but added he had missed out on some (discussion areas) in previous exco meetings because of problems with the Teams link.

He added that ‘revenue collection needs to be seriously looked at’.

Cllr Pakathi said it was important to ‘engage with all communities while developing a budget funding plan’.

“We may be seen as opposition but we are all part of this council and community and we have to ensure this municipality succeeds.”

An outside company had been enlisted to collect outstanding revenue but the meeting heard that no formal report had been received from the company.

In his debut meeting, Mayor Mkhize listened intently and commented that ‘revenue collection is a challenge and one what we will be focussing on’.

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