The most shocking announcement of the year has to be the executive mayor’s revelation that the municipality’s financial situation is ‘very bad’.
‘It’s not a rumour, it’s a fact, and things are really bad. We spend a lot more than we get in,’ Kgotso Khumalo told the councillors at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Victor Boqo, the mayoral spokesperson, elaborated further, saying they are, indeed, facing financial instability as a result of the non-collection rate of revenue in Ventersdorp, in particular.
Boqo says most of these households connect electricity illegally. ‘We have put measures in place by installing smart meter systems but the community refuses to let the service provider install them because they do not want to pay. We render basic services to all our people but we get less revenue than we pay out. The 85 per cent that we get through collections is far less than we should be getting. We will be cutting the electricity of all households, government departments and businesses that owe the municipality money,’ he said.
When asked whether the municipality will seek assistance elsewhere, he said ‘at this stage, we cannot approach provincial or national government because we are not in a crisis but we are certainly facing a financial challenge.’
‘We will be holding public meetings to encourage the public to pay for their services. Those who cannot afford to pay can contact the municipality or their ward councillor. They can apply for indigent status to receive free basic services like water, electricity and sewerage.’
The Herald has previously reported that, in December 2014, according to the DA’s caucus leader, Alderman Chris Landsberg, the municipality had an amount of R342 777 728 available in cash investments. This figure had almost halved by May 2017. According to him, it had dropped further to R156 972 402 by May last year.
When asked about the investments and reserves of the municipality, Boqo said the investments cannot be cashed in because most of them are long-term and are still with the various banking institutions. ‘We will only have access to them once they reach maturity,’ he said.
The ANC’s political greed is to blame for this situation
Landsberg says the mayor’s admission that there are financial problems within the municipality comes as no surprise. ‘We could see it in the service delivery within the municipality. Officials have been telling us that the municipal stores are empty and there is no money to replenish the stock. The ANC’s political greed is to blame for this situation. The then Cogta (Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs) minister, Pravin Gordhan, simply ignored the recommendations of the demarcation board and forced the stable Tlokwe municipality to amalgamate with the very unstable, bankrupt Ventersdorp municipality.’
‘No one realised the full scope of the problem because the council has not received a single Article 71 financial report since June 2017. These reports must be published on the municipality’s website by the 10th of every month. Every time I asked the MMC for finance about the reports, he would use the poor excuse that they were still struggling to integrate the system.
‘The latest auditor-general’s report notes that the municipality’s irregular, unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure since 2007 amounts to nearly a billion rand, which the municipality has never dealt with at all.
‘The DA has said from the start that the amalgamation would cause havoc for Tlokwe municipality. Now, the ANC, Kgotso Khumalo and Pravin Gordhan must take responsibility for this mess that has placed this municipality among the 200 struggling local governments.
‘The full scope of the problem will only be seen once we start with the budgets but I cannot rule out that J.B. Marks could be placed under administration,’ he said.
Landsberg added that ‘you can see the lack of money in the state of our city. There are potholes everywhere that are not being repaired and not a day goes by that water leaks are not reported. The municipality is supposed to spend nine per cent of its operating budget on maintenance but it hasn’t been doing that for some time now and, now, there is just no money’.
‘I don’t think the previous municipal manager’s role in this situation should be underestimated. She gave out illegal contracts, ignored municipal laws and basically did whatever she wanted to. She was a very well-qualified nurse but knows nothing about public administration,’ he said.
