Residents will be in for quite a surprise when it comes to the content of their Christmas stockings this year.
On Thursday, October 27 council met to discuss a few issues in our city.
The Executive Mayor, Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali said that residents will receive a 30 day notice on outstanding accounts. It must be acted on and paid, or further steps will be taken. Drivers of motor vehicles will be stopped by traffic officers and if any outstanding fees to the municipality reflects, a payment must follow.
“The community of eMalahleni are rushing to the mall and spending all their money, and we do not get paid,” were the words of the mayor.
She also mentioned that if a traffic fine expires, the invoice for your account at the municipality does not expire. Furthermore the mayor stated that if anyone goes to the traffic offices for renewals, their profiles will be blocked until money is received for outstanding accounts.
The Executive Mayor, Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali during the council meeting held on Thursday, October 27.
“We work according to a centralised system, and even if you relocate, your profile will remain the same,” she also added.
The mayor also commented and said that a business plan is in action, but not much can be commented on that at this stage.
“We want these businesses to help us in supporting places like Ga-Nala and Thubelihle. If we receive no feedback from the community on issues or ideas that concerns our city, you must remember that the community then agrees with what you are saying. If an idea is posed to them and councillors then have to make decisions, the community is also agreeing with this,” the mayor said.
The training of new employees has been implemented and training will commence shortly. Van Vuuren also said that they must be able to use the training they have received effectively, which they will also be tested on.
Members from the Democratic Alliance (DA) raised issues like the R2.2 billion in consumer debt and issues to reduce water losses.
“Are the right people appointed to do the job?” was one of the main concerns.
Van Vuuren answered these questions by saying that the drought has had an immense impact on our water supply as well as the water supply from Anglo, as a result of arrears in the Anglo account. He did, however say that the municipality is catching up on the arrears and they have a program in place of repaying the debt. Because of the water cut from Anglo per month, it has also affected the water supply to various reservoirs.
Mr Theo van Vuuren, Municipal Manager at the council meeting held on Thursday, October 27.
“From the 60 mega litres per day we used to receive from Anglo, in the last two weeks we have only received four mega litres per day. Although the Anglo account is much less, our source of water is also much less,” Van Vuuren added.
He also said that he is aware of the fact that we are currently experiencing a higher than usual amount of pipe bursts. He said that it is something out of the ordinary and is being investigated.
The opinion of the DA that the municipality is bankrupt also surfaced, with no comments to deny this fact.
“We are in dire money problems. We somehow go deeper and deeper into debt with our Eskom account escalating from R300 million to R990 million in only a few years. How is this possible?” were some of the arguments raised.
“More houses are being built in extension 5 and extension 7. A flat rate is also set on some accounts so we should receive some money. After an audit was conducted, we discovered that it is mainly the new houses that are not paying us. Some people have not paid since 2013, this we also discovered. We are not doing well, but we are going to get there. As for the Eskom account, the electricity usage during the winter months, increased. We have a plan. We never said that we are winning, we said that it is difficult,” the mayor said.
Van Vuuren also stated that there is a gap between what the municipality is billing and between what the municipality should be billing, and that this is also causing a problem in our financial status.
Other issues were raised by the DA, where they stated that this party will write to the the mayor, calling on her to disband Section 80 committees that were established unconstitutionally and without fair representation.
This follows after the DA and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) were excluded from the Section 80 committees that the mayor established without fair and proportional representation of all political parties that form part of the Emalahleni Local Council.
Section 160(8) of the constitution states that members of a municipal council are entitled to participate in its proceedings and those of its committees in a manner that allows parties within the council to be fairly represented and is consistent with the constitution.
The DA is of the opinion that the mayor’s exclusion of the DA and EFF in the Section 80 committees can only be seen as an attempt to keep vocal opposition parties out of debates and monthly meetings, thereby limiting their ability to conduct effective oversight.
Through the DA’s continued oversight in eMalahleni, we were able to uncover suspicious activities. As a result, we have laid two charges of fraud and corruption against the municipal mmanager and the DA is satisfied with the progress made by the investigating officers in both cases thus far.
“The mayor’s actions will not deter the DA from holding her accountable and conducting much needed oversight in eMalahleni, the DA stated.
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