Ratepayers slam unfunded budget of Lekwa

Lekwa Ratepayers Association (LRPA) sketched a disturbing picture about municipal affairs when questioning the unfunded budget of Lekwa.

According to them, most generated income will go towards paying salaries and debts.

“Ward 10 and the business districts pay insurmountable amounts of rates and taxes compared to others, some of which don’t pay at all,” they stated.

The association unequivocally said Lekwa has no future, as they cut off the hand that feeds them.

“Lekwa should focus on revenue enhancement for all wards, not just the business districts and Ward 10.“

The proposed budget for 2023 was not submitted to council for approval as it is unfunded, showing a nett loss.

“The municipality cannot fund their own projects and passing an unfunded budget will lead to not getting its equitable share from government, and may also lead to counsel getting disbanded.”

Lekwa has to pass a budget before year-end and the financial information provided at this stage, has not been verified.

The proposed increase for property rates is 5.2%, for sewage 5.2%, for refuse 5.2%, for water 5.2% and for electricity 7.47%.

Electricity tariffs need to be approved by Nersa, with the possibility of even higher increases than the 5.2% in 2022.

Ratepayers said Lekwa has been running extremely high losses in trading services for years.

“This budget proposes a loss of only R69 228 230, which is only plausible if their revenue enhancement project succeeds.”

They also said if this budget were to be passed, the 2022-deficit would decrease by 442% in 2023.

Ratepayers commented that a budget needs to drafted in reality, saying Lekwa has had a deficit on the annual financial statements for every financial year since 2009.

According to them, the municipality has passed a funded budget for all these years even when it did not have any correlation with the actual audit outcome.

“This will likely continue in perpetuity if something drastic does not change.”

According to them, the administrator Johann Mettler, did leave a sound Financial Recovery Plan that needs to be implemented fully.

The LRPA also said the end date for most of the key performance indicators are between June and September this year.

According to them, the problems with bridged meters, leaking pipes in the water distribution network and estimated water usage on meters need to be sorted out.

“We are disgruntled with how this municipality is/was run for all these years.

“We have to pay our fair share for electricity, water, waste removal and sewage usage.

“The municipality will never prosper if we don’t, and Eskom will keep coming after us for the money owed to them.”