DEAR Editor:
A Budget Steering Committee meeting was scheduled to take place on Friday, February 14, 2020, to consider an ‘adjustment budget’.
Due to actions of the Umdoni Business Forum, the offices were locked and the meeting did not happen.
ALSO READ : Here are the Budget Speech 2020 highlights
At the EXCO meeting held on February 18, I motivated for the budget meeting to be rescheduled asap given the dire need for road, storm-water, streetlight and verge maintenance.
My argument was that there is only the last quarter of this financial year left in which to provide some level of services to an already disenchanted and neglected rate-paying community.
The approved budget does not provide for the aforementioned maintenance because the hastily-contrived plans in the budget exercise last year alleged that all these services would be rendered ‘in-house’.
It was pointed out at the time that Umdoni lacks the management and operational capacity to undertake these services.
The performance in this financial year has proved this reality to be beyond any doubt. It was just one of the reasons why colleagues and I did not vote in favour of a budget that could never reasonably be expected to deliver services to the citizens who provide Umdoni with the revenue it uses so readily for a variety of activities that has nothing to do with its core functions.
The encouraging news is that executive committee members agreed to my proposal and a budget adjustment meeting was rescheduled for February 19.
The challenge is to convince an already reluctant majority that funds must be diverted from savings and other non-core activities, to start the process of fixing the very infrastructure that enables our local economy to exist.
It is the local economy that enables all Umdoni’s staff, councillors and appointed contractors to earn an income.
There is a distinct parallel to be drawn with the capture and looting of Eskom, resulting in maintenance neglect and serious performance failure.
We all know what load-shedding does to our lives and businesses.
What is happening in Umdoni is a failure to maintain public infrastructure whilst the focus rests on awarding heavily-inflated tenders to the connected elite, resulting in urban decay, a loss of trust, a decline in property values and business confidence, and a general mood of depression.
Convincing the majority ANC and their minority partners the AM4C and AL-JAMAH (all who voted in favour of this current budget) to change course and divert funds to basic service delivery will be a difficult but necessary task.
Should they respond to this appeal for a distinct change in budget priorities, it will bode well for the new budget which is coming up for consideration, consultation and adoption in the following two months.
My colleagues and I will be undertaking initiatives to consult residents on priorities for planning and budgets over the next month.
We encourage all citizens to participate actively in the process of IDP review and budget compilation.
Opting out of the process is tantamount to condoning bad budgets and performance that have brought us to where we are.
We understand the frustration and apathy that prevails after living through two decades of neglect and simply cannot afford to become complacent about the manner in which our towns are being driven into disrepair.
We therefore appeal to all residents to engage in the IDP/Budget process. We have nothing to lose by doing so, and everything to gain.
COUNCILLOR EDWIN BAPTIE
DA Caucus Leader, Umdoni
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