In June 2016, the Tlokwe and Ventersdorp municipalities enjoyed the last few days of their existence and had to make way for the ‘ultimate solution’ to the destroyed municipality of Ventersdorp that has been in existence for more than one hundred years.
This ‘ultimate solution’ was to geographically amalgamate Tlokwe with Ventersdorp and hope that, by some magic, new boundaries and new wards would lessen the devastation caused to the community of Ventersdorp over years and years of corruption and maladministration.
The opponents of this ‘ultimate solution’ were chastised and ridiculed for not caring about the people of Ventersdorp and for trying to maintain the status quo for selfish reasons. At the same time, the calls for transparency and the engagement of the public on the main motivations for the amalgamation fell on deaf ears.
Instead, the little engagement there was insofar as the public consideration is concerned, was blatantly discarded because Z as with most political decisions by the ANC Z retaining political power at all costs was sufficient justification to override any or all other sober considerations.
So strong was the political drive and lust for power that even the Municipal Demarcation Board ignored its own expert’s opinion on how to salvage the struggling Ventersdorp and Matlosana municipalities. Instead, it steamrollered the amalgamation through in time for the local government elections. What has never been disclosed to the public was the following recommendation to the demarcation board. Despite several requests for transparency before the amalgamation, the board only elected to disclose them in December 2016:
‘Rather than re-demarcating the boundaries of the municipalities contained in DEM4517, a recommendation is made to the minister to increase the national and provincial support provided to all three local municipalities.
A recommendation is made to the minister to implement a strategy for strengthening the district municipality so that it is better able to provide support to the local municipalities affected by the DEM.
A recommendation is made to the minister that shared services models should be considered for functions such as municipal planning and or internal audit.’
This solution was not politically expedient and actually revealed the true cause of the Ventersdorp and Matlosana demise Z failed leadership. The intervention, as recommended to the minister, never came, but the boundaries were changed, nevertheless.
Now, the proverbial chickens have come home to roost and the result is further devastation:
1) No funds (except for a rumoured amount of R13 million) were availed by those in favour of the amalgamation at a national and provincial level to overcome the financial deficit and backlog of Ventersdorp
2) The backlog of Ventersdorp is in excess of R100 million with Eskom threatening to cut off electricity to the communities by virtue of an outstanding debt of over R5 million.
3) The collection rate of revenue in the former Ventersdorp district, on amounts owed to the municipality and that was invoiced in December 2016 was 25, meaning that the municipality cannot fund its own budget of the municipality’s current needs and, therefore, has no hope at all of making payment in instalments or at all, meaning that the recurring monthly expenses will increase without being funded.
4) The equitable share of revenue that is received from National Treasury for Ventersdorp to supplement its ability to advance the community and revenue to the extent of more than R4 million that is currently not recovered, have been committed to Eskom in a five-year payment plan to prevent the electricity supply to Ventersdorp from being cut.
5) The nett result of 1-4 above is that, insofar as Ventersdorp is concerned, there is nothing in the bank to advance the interests of the community for at least the next five years. That is, of course, unless the reserves of the former Tlokwe municipality are used as a bailout. There is, therefore, no advantage in the amalgamation for Potchefstroom, but the sharing of the revenue already collected from the community of Potchefstroom.
6) The community of Potchefstroom, in the absence of any other stream of income or intervention from National Treasury, on the other hand, will effectively pick up the bill for the historic and unaccounted for corruption and maladministration of Ventersdorp over many years.
This community of Potchefstroom and Ventersdorp is proudly brought to you by the African National Congress, and their own agenda is the reason why your views never mattered.