MUSINA’s former mayor, Carol Phiri tabled the new municipal budget of R207 million just a few days before being recalled.
At the time, she said the budget was aimed at speeding up service delivery to the people. Breaking the budget down, Phiri said R2,6 million would be contributed towards education. A total of R7,4 million would be contributed towards the upgrading of the Musina vehicle testing station and the construction of classrooms at Renaissance High School and Beitbridge Primary School.
According to her, more money would be used for various development and construction programmes as well as the purchase of heavy-duty machinery.
“Property rates will increase by 6,4%, electricity charges will increase by 7,39%, waste removal charges will increase by 6,4%, and other charges will increase by 6,4%.
“In the last financial year, we refurbished and constructed some major projects including the Nancefield Ext 5 (Skoonplaas) MTD Sport Centre at a cost of R5,1 million, with the centre already being open. We completed the Nancefield Ext 8 construction of a new park at the cost of R3,1 million.
“In Nancefield Ext 7 there was the construction of Thusong Service Centre at a cost of R2 million and it is operational. In Nancefield Ext 8 (Matswale), another Thusong Service Centre that is operational was built at a cost of R1,2 million.
“We purchased refuse removal vehicles at a cost of R3 million, machinery and equipment at a cost of R2 million, did road resurfacing at a cost of R6,8 million, and the Musina vehicle testing station, which was closed three years ago by the department of roads and transport, has been reopened,” she said.
“Although our latest audit report is qualified, we have put in corrective measures to make sure that we improve the situation. The time for irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure must be history which should not repeat itself. Any transaction without records will have to be regarded as no transaction and the one responsible for the loss of records should be held personally liable.
“We are still unable to provide some of the services due to the fact of the high amount owed by consumer debtors which is over R20 million. We are embarking on campaigns to educate our people that it is important to pay for services so that we can in return use the money for the benefit of our communities. We are going to fill all vacant positions to accelerate service delivery,” she promised.
“We have appointed 35 staff members in critical positions. These are the people who ensure that our community gets much-needed services within the blink of an eye. When we appointed these people, we made sure that we catered for all groups, including the youth, women and the disabled.
“Last year, we created 110 EPWP jobs in our municipality and the number has increased to 120. We are serious in our efforts to relieve people from the bondage of poverty.”
