DA gives alternative budget
They believe the closed tender process, excessive wasteful expenditure and lack of consequence for those involved in fraud, must be stopped
‘More of the same, and not addressing the big issues of the budget’.
This is what the DA is calling Ekurhuleni’s draft Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Medium Term Revenue and Expenditure Framework (MTREF) of 2014 to 2017.
Eddie Taylor, finance spokesman in the DA’s Ekurhuleni caucus presented an alternative budget during a press conference last Tuesday, more than a week before these plans were approved at an Ekurhuleni Metro council meeting in Germiston .
He said this alternative was aimed at improving the metro management, as well as service delivery to the metro’s residents.
To do this, the DA will use three effective methods, namely revenue enhancement, cost cutting and by eradicating corruption.
Taylor says fixing these three broad areas, will ensure a well-run city.
“Once these three pillars of the Ekurhuleni budget have been brought in line and the metro has more liquid cash to spend on its operating budget, it will have more capacity to borrow money to fund capital projects.”
On the collection of rates in Ekurhuleni, Taylor says because of uncollected rates and service charges and long-outstanding debts of business and other spheres of government, the budget is hindered by a loss of revenue of approximately R1,2-billion.
His advice was to cut the costs on unnecessary items and tighten the belt on extravagant events, gala dinners, expensive study tours and excessive overtime salaries.
“Steps would be taken to ensure that public money is no longer spent on party political events and campaigns.”
He also says the mayoral committee and senior managers do not need costly protection services.
Taylor describes corruption as a ‘poison’ that taints every sphere of government and it costs the residents of Ekurhuleni not only money, but also basic services.
He says the current closed tender process, excessive wasteful expenditure and lack of consequence for those involved in fraud, must be stopped.
Taylor felt stopping the most serious and expensive corruption is a matter of opening the tender process for public scrutiny, as well as ensuring rapid investigation of corruption allegations with swift justice if found guilty and the speeding up of disciplinary processes to stop long suspension of personnel.
