Tshwane mayoral candidate wants metro to ditch assets that are liabilities
"There are many businesses which have nothing to do with the metro's functions such as the Wonderboom airport."
The DA’s mayoral candidate for Tshwane promised to get rid of any “assets” that were only costing the metro money in order to stabilise its finances.
One such asset was the Wonderboom airport in the north of Pretoria.
“There are many businesses which have nothing to do with the metro’s functions,” said Cilliers Brink, who has been endorsed as a mayoral candidate by the multi-party coalition.
The coalition holds over a 50% majority in the council.
This was after Tshwane Speaker Dr Murunwa Makwarela confirmed on Tuesday that Randall Williams was no longer serving as the metro’s mayor.
“Tshwane has financial issues and the airport has incurred these for several years. This facility is not an asset, but a liability.”
According to Brink, the metro’s expenditures have exceeded the income “for quite a time”.
He said a recent Auditor General (AG) report showed that there were serious financial issues in that he needed to get to the bottom of once elected.
“Once elected, I will sit with the Mayco and the city manager to see to what extent they have implemented measures announced by the national treasury and the AG’s office to assist Tshwane.”
Brink said it was difficult to immediately implement a turnaround for finances as the metro’s submitted statements to the AG had no credibility.
In addition, it was crucial for Tshwane to also implement a performance management system.
“Incompetent staff are kept in the administration because we are unable to measure their contractual performance.
Brink promised a corruption-free city and better service delivery.
“But I am under no illusion of the enormous tasks to fix the city.”
He said only 55% of ratepayers were actually paying for services.
Providing basic services such as roads, electricity, sewage and streetlights was vital.
“If we get this right, we can draw investment, restore confidence and lift people out of poverty.”
Brink said he was also looking into reducing Tshwane’s reliance on Eskom.
“Load-shedding has a devastating effect on our networks, which worsens transmission losses and further devastates sewage reticulation and water.”
He said discussions needed to take place with coalition members to seek competitive bids to run the Rooiwal and Pretoria West power stations.
The Tshwane metro police must also be restructured to secure infrastructure since “cable theft and vandalism attacks on infrastructure are overwhelming”.
Multi-party coalition oversight group chairperson Dr Cornè Mulder said it has expressed support for the DA’s proposed candidate.
Mulder said the support came as the DA promised turnarounds in issues such as the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant and service delivery issues impacting the township communities of Hammanskraal, Soshunguve and Mamelodi, among others.
The EFF has, however, rejected Brink as mayor.
#SaveTshwane 📌 pic.twitter.com/kv1VPgB4xS
— EFF Tshwane Region (@TshwaneEff) February 21, 2023
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