‘That is what the Council said’

With eMalahleni residents in a buzz about the water, electricity and waste removal for over five years, the Budget Speech was finally put on the table.

The budget speech highlighted the three topics that flare up emotions on a daily basis, the basic rights of each taxpayer.

Provision for basic services remains the core business of the municipality and for the past five years provision for water has been given first priority, sanitation second and the third priority electricity, with roads and storm water dragging at the end.

The budgets from the previous years show that this was due to pressing needs.
Water is the municipality’s biggest challenge with a lack of provision for portable water and a higher demand than the supply, while there has been an outcry with the quality of water supplied.

The municipality has entered a memorandum of understanding and agreements with the mining houses to supply eMalahleni with the portable water because having access to water is a human right.
Not a day goes by without complaints about electricity posted on social media. Residents are furious and want straight answers from the municipality.

Cllr Ntshalintshali said the municipality is currently distributing approximately 300 Mega Watts of electricity to its customers. Maintaining a stable and sustainable electricity supply is the focus of the municipality through balancing the supply versus demand, which is not happening.
Currently 67% of households are supplied by formal electricity connections. It must be noted that close to 30% of these households are illegally connected to the grid.

It is no secret that residents know that the municipality is currently experiencing a challenge with their internal distribution network on bulk and medium voltage due to aged and overloaded infrastructure. They are currently engaging with Eskom in the hopes of extending its bulk network through increasing the nominal maximum demand at existing bulk intake points.

Theft and vandalism of infrastructure is a daily challenge in maintaining a stable and sustainable supply and also places a burden on the budget of the municipality due to the high costs.
Refuse bags piling up is not an uncommon sight in the City of Coal. Instead of beautiful Cosmos flowers, synonym of the Highveld, plastic bags decorate pavements and open spaces.

Cllr Ntshalintshali said the reason for that is the challenges for the environmental management and compliance with its lack of capacity, insufficient funds and most of the refuse removal fleet is old and currently only 11 trucks of the 20 is in working condition.

Municipal Manager Theo van Vuuren along with the Executive Mayor Councillor Lindiwe Ntshalintshali, Acting Speaker Councillor Taylor Phokgadi and Council Administration Gerrie Swan at the Budget Speech for 2016 and 2017.

In total, 87% of the households currently have access to refuse removal.
The municipality established Waste Management Committees (Enviro-Groups) which will assist in turning illegal dumping spots into community parks and gardens.

The council’s programme for the next five years includes environmental and waste management. It will facilitate the development of transfer stations and recycling centres and to explore the use of waste to produce energy.
She did not elaborate on the state of the roads and only touched briefly on this hotly debated topic.

Eskom and its debt is still a huge headache. Cllr Ntshalintshali mentioned that the problem with paying Eskom’s debt is due to the high monthly interest on arrear debt, high monthly electricity losses due to illegal connection on electricity and of non- payment from the residents.

“A revised agreement will be entered with Eskom,” was said in the speech.

The council is convinced that the residents can conclude that the budget is not about figures but about the support of the needs of the people for better living. As the community needs to cement a relationship on vision, values and budget.

The total population for Emalahleni is 425 000 and growing at an average of 3% every year which makes Emalahleni the largest population in the Nkangala District

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