Municipality: District mayor presents budget

HIGHVELD – Mr Mishack Nhlabathi, Executive Mayor of the Gert Sibande District Municipality, delivered the municipal budget for the 2014/2015 financial year recently.

Revenue projection has been allocated more than R400 million, grants income more than R380 million, expenditure projections more than R400 million, capital expenditure projection R12 million and multi-year operating expenditure projections more than R170 million.

More than R220 million have been allocated to the municipal departments, more than R176 million for administration, more than R71 million for projects to the seven local municipalities and more than R106 million for the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant.

Mr Nhlabathi said the budget was presented at the time when the world economy was showing some signs of recovery and improved growth this year.

“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Economic Outlook projects that world economic growth will increase from 3.7 per cent this year to 3.9 per cent next year.”

Mr Nhlabathi said the issue that concerns them is the violent service delivery protests.

“While our people have all the rights enshrined in our Constitution to march, to picket, to strike, to stay away and to demonstrate, those rights do not extend to the destruction of property.

“The public amenities such as roads, libraries, halls, schools and offices belong to the people themselves.

“We take this opportunity to call on our people to exercise their democratic rights freely and peacefully.

“We also call on our people to adequately use the avenues available to them to raise their concerns and service delivery frustrations such as ward committees, councillors, constituency offices, municipalities, government offices and public representatives.”

Mr Nhlabathi said one of the areas they must work on is the fight against the scourge of corruption, including all other acts of dishonesty such as bribery, fraud, tender-rigging, nepotism, patronage, money laundering and embezzlement.