Chamber of Commerce launches public participation forum

The Pretoria Chamber of Commerce launched a participation forum on Tuesday through which business owners can comment on the new Tshwane adjustment budget.

According to a media statement, the public participation process aims to collect opinions on, among other things, various tariff increases.

The forum closes on May 17.

Business owners within the Tshwane municipality are encouraged to participate through the Pretoria Sakekamer’s forum.

The Pretoria Chamber of Commerce intends to submit a report with all the input received from the business community.

“We welcome the prioritisation of transparent financial management,” said Pretoria Chamber of Commerce chairman Fergus Ferguson.

“There is an established culture of wasteful and unauthorised expenditure that needs to be broken down.

“Without robust approval and accountability procedures, corrupt transactions, such as the PEU scandal, will remain possible.”

The statement adds that so far payments worth around R2-billion have been made concerning liabilities arising from illegal electricity meter contracts with PEU Capital Partners (PEU) and Total Utility Management Services (TUMS).

The Pretoria Chamber of Commerce and Sakeliga are requesting further information, including financial and audit information.

This will enable them to determine the extent to which they can assist the City in extricating itself from liabilities arising from illegal activities.

When addressing the topic of debtors, Ferguson said that “the municipality’s growing debtor’s book is generally a major source of concern”.

“Cash flow will remain a headache for as long as the municipality remains in default to collect outstanding debts.

“In addition, the debtor’s book is in many cases inaccurate due to lingering account errors that remain unresolved.”

Of infrastructure and tender processes, Ferguson said that “while the prioritisation of the repair and upgrade of core infrastructure around water and power supply is commendable, the Pretoria Chamber of Commerce wants to see that forensic reports on corruption and waste in many of these projects, specifically the Rooiwal sewage works, are prioritised”.

“We also want to see that tender processes and procurement regulations are reviewed in line with the recent constitutional court ruling on procurement regulations in Sakeliga’s favour.

“The Tshwane municipality should award tenders primarily based on price and quality.

“These projects are too important and urgent to allow any extra costs, delays and corruption, which mainly stem from poor tendering processes.”

Privatisation was also discussed.

“We welcome talk of privatisation at Wonderboom airport, but Pretoria cannot afford for it to remain just talks. For Pretoria to be a world-class business centre, a modern functional airport is essential.

“We would therefore like firm intentions in this regard,” said Ferguson.

Ferguson stressed that the Rooiwal power station remains a problem and will be something they focus on.

“The Rooiwal power station also belongs on the privatisation priority list.

“Tshwane can barely keep up with line faults, illegal power connections, cable theft and maintenance at substations.

“The private sector should be encouraged to create power capacity. Current tax credits are negligibly small. However, the Tshwane municipality can introduce additional incentives.”

The final topic was personnel budgeting and performance management.

“The intention to tighten the belt around the salary account of government officials is commendable, but the Pretoria Sakekamer expects that an intensive performance management programme must be introduced to ensure speedy and professional service delivery to businesses and residents,” said Ferguson.

“Service delivery systems do not work without professional staff who are held accountable to consistently deliver professional service.

“In addition, a general lack of contingency plans to ensure service delivery during load-shedding is a major gap.”

The press release concluded on the topic of the submission of architect plans to the chamber.

“The submission of architect plans and delays surrounding their approval has already reached crisis proportions.

“Private sector infrastructure development is a key part of the city’s economic growth potential. Many of these projects do not get off the starting blocks for months – solely due to dysfunctional service offices – and the chain reaction is exponentially damaging,” Ferguson concluded.

Other points that the Pretoria Chamber of Commerce would like to address included the following:

– The prioritisation of recurring crime around infrastructure (cable theft).

– The securing of highways and supply routes of industrial areas.

– An escalation of the repair of dangerous sinkholes in Centurion.

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