Crippling debt impacts on Endumeni’s service delivery efforts
Rising Eskom debt and poor revenue collection strain Endumeni, raising concerns over service delivery and municipal spending.
Crippling debt is still impacting Endumeni’s ability to deliver critical services to residents.
Speaking at an executive committee meeting, Mayor Mcebo Mkhize said the Eskom debt was now R393-million despite a R93-million national treasury-funded project to install smart meters that were to have curbed power theft.
Defaulting businesses owe over R51-million in service charges, while residential debt has risen to over R173-million. The collection of rates and charges is just 74%. According to the National Treasury website, municipalities with high outstanding debt should aim for a collection rate of more than 100% to recover historic debt.
Endumeni has just over R7-million in the bank, while investments total around R37. Fellow exco member, Saleem Abdool, suggested that interest accrued from the investment be used to pay Eskom ‘to keep the vultures at bay’.
Mayor Mkhize said there had been a call to meet up with Conlog (the company that installed smart meters in the area), but there is yet to be feedback.
‘Smart meters have been bridged’
According to those who live in Sithembile, Glencoe, ‘the majority of the smart meters installed have already been bridged’. This is yet to be verified independently.
Turning to expenditure, Cllr Abdool wanted to know how much the municipality is spending on consultants (legal firms etc.) instead of using in-house staff.
He also wanted to know what happened to the ‘thumper’ – a machine used by the electrical department to trace cable faults.
“This is a case in point. The first thumper was stolen. Insurance paid out, and the machine was replaced. That one also seems to have disappeared because we have to call in a machine from out of town – at great cost – to trace a MV fault. This is money wasting.”
He called on the municipality to focus on ‘potholes, street lights and cutting the grass on pavements’ to keep residents happy and serviced.
The agreement over the municipality’s commitment to fixing roads accessing the new Glencoe Private Hospital was also scruitinised and it was decided that this will have to be relooked at during a meeting with the developer.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram or email us at dundee.courier@caxton.co.za. Add us on WhatsApp 071 277 1394.
