GMM downgrade hits councillors’ pockets

The Govan Mbeki Municipality will be downgraded from a grade 5 to a grade 4 municipality. So said the municipality speaker, Fikile Magagamela, during an ordinary council meeting on February 27.

According to him, the downgrading will affect councillors’ salaries.

“Councillors who joined the municipality on July 1 last year will be the first to be affected because they will now be remunerated according to grade 4.

“Those who have served since the beginning of the term will continue receiving grade 5 salaries until the end of the financial year,’ Magagamela explained.

Municipal Mayor Nhlakanipho Zuma presented the mid-term performance report and told the council that the municipality had successfully applied for a disaster fund rollover to boost its budget adjustment.

“Approving the disaster fund rollover has increased our revenue to R33b, and we are actively cutting our expenditure. We aim to see significant reductions in the municipality’s spending,” said Zuma.

When presenting the Eskom and Rand Water accounts, Zuma said the municipality had paid R34.5m to Eskom and R32.5m to Rand Water.

Despite these payments, Zuma admitted that the municipality could not generate revenue beyond expectations. As a result, an adjustment to the budget would be necessary.

“We are proposing to the council that we adjust our budget downward because we were unable to raise as much money as expected,” Zuma stated.

Last month, the municipality received its third consecutive qualified audit opinion from the office of the Auditor-General with findings.

The downgrade of the municipality follows that of the Lekwa Municipality, which was downgraded from grade 4 to grade 3 in January. Both municipalities fall under the Gert Sibande District Municipality.

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