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Council minutes confirm that new BCM budget is illegal

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Dear MyPE

The recently imposed rates and tariff increases in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality are technically illegal, as the 2020/2021 budget was illegally adopted by the ANC-led council in June.

This illegal decision places the municipality at significant risk of litigation which could bring a halt to service delivery at a significant cost to the already overburdened ratepayers.

The illegality of the budget has been confirmed by the minutes of the 29 June 2020 meeting, which were only recently made available to councillors for adoption.

The minutes confirm what the Democratic Alliance has long suspected, which is that the ANC councillors did not have the numbers to pass the budget. The Municipal Structures Act states that to pass the budget, a full majority of councillors is required, not a simple majority of those present.

The Buffalo City council has 100 councillors; thus 51 councillors need to vote in favour of adopting the budget for it to be legally approved. The adopted minutes show that, due to 22 apologies/applications for Leave of Absence and two vacancies, only 76 councillors were in session on 29 June.

The 23 DA councillors and five EFF councillors dissented on the adoption of the budget, leaving 48 councillors in favour – three short of the required majority of 51.

Despite the DA formally calling for a vote on the matter, as was necessary to establish if the required number were in favour, the ANC councillors bulldozed the budget adoption through.

The failure to meet the legal requirements of passing the budget renders all expenditure incurred by the Municipality in the new financial year as unauthorised and irregular, and tariff increases illegal.

The Municipal Finance Management Act is clear that, the Mayor is also in dereliction of his duty to ensure that the municipal budget is legally approved. He is also compelled by the Act that, on becoming aware of any non-compliance, he is to inform the MEC of Finance as well as National Treasury.

Given the circumstances the DA calls upon the Speaker of Council to urgently convene a Special Council Meeting to legally approve the 2020/21 budget.

The DA will again escalate the legality of the adopted 2020/21 budget to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and National Treasury.

The DA will continue to hold the ANC-led council to account, especially when the legal implications of their decisions have direct consequences for the residents of the Metro.

Regards

Cllr Sue Bentley
Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality

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