* Municipalities raise revenue in three ways, namely through property rate collections, payment for municipal services and lastly through an equitable share allocation from national government.
The National Treasury announced it was withholding the transfer of funds from the Fiscus to 60 of the country’s municipalities as a result of their failure to pay creditors.
Treasury cited the “persistent failure by some municipalities to pay creditors within 30 days” as the reason it saw fit to withhold the grants.
Municipalities, as at December 31 last year, owed Eskom R9 billion, of which R4.5 billion is current and the balance relates to arrears, which is a persistent breach of the payment terms applicable to creditors, Treasury said.
As at December 31, 2014, municipalities owed Water Boards R3.6 billion, of which R1.3 billion is current and R2.3 billion relates to arrears. Fortunately, Emnambithi/Ladysmith Municipality is not one of the 60 whose funds were withheld by Treasury. Bravo!
Thank you to the team in our Finance sections.
* Studies have shown that those who work more than eight hours a day have lower productivity and higher burnout rates than those who don’t. Clocking these hours might look good, but you aren’t getting anything extra accomplished. Instead, work on being more focused during your work hours by using techniques such as time blocking.
Your results will speak for themselves.
* When you look at your ‘to do’ list in the morning, what do you tackle first? If you tend to do the easier things first and wait on the big projects, you have a bad habit.
By the time you get to the important work – if you ever do – you’ll be tired, cranky and far less productive. By starting on the big project right away, you give it your best energy, while saving the easy work for later in the day when you naturally have less focus and motivation. According to the 80/20 rule, 20 per cent of our tasks will produce 80 per cent of our results.
So why treat all tasks as if they’re equally important? By focusing on the most important 20 per cent – which may not be urgent work – it will be significantly more productive. There’s nothing more frustrating than spending a day “fighting fires”, only to realise that one didn’t accomplish the most important work.
* Jeremy Clarkson is to appear again on stage with Richard Hammond and James May, with whom he presented the BBC’s Top Gear. A deal has been made to fulfil a series of live shows that were planned before the presenter was dropped from the show for hitting a producer. The gigs will be stripped of all BBC branding and content, and will be called Clarkson, Hammond and May Live. The first live show will take place in Belfast on May 22. In South Africa, the live show will be staged on June 12 to 14 in Johannesburg.
* Former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari has become the first opposition candidate to win presidential elections in Nigeria. This is a hugely significant moment in Nigeria’s turbulent history. Never before has a sitting president been defeated in an election. Since independence from Britain in 1960, there have been numerous coups and most elections have been rigged. Of course, in a close election, there will be many voters who are not pleased with this outcome, but the whole process is a sign that democracy is deepening in Nigeria. The poll has once again brought to the surface dangerous religious and regional differences, and there is still a threat of violence. The man who has been voted out, Goodluck Jonathan, has played a huge part in trying to prevent that. He made the phone call when there would no doubt have been some in his camp who would have preferred to dig their heels in. But he bowed out gracefully.
