The guest speaker at the Ward 1 and 2 ward meeting on 2 August was former Ward 5 Councillor, Angelo Dashwood, who addressed the meeting as follows:
When I was first in Council in the 1980’s and 1990’s as a DP Councilor for Ward 5, we had a well-run council with the best qualified officials. Our investments totaled more than R2b and we were one of the best run municipalities in South Africa.
Today, unfortunately, things have changed dramatically, we no longer have investments – in fact we have a debt of R1.9b. This is due to a number of factors:
- Fruitless and wasteful expenditure;
- Employment of people for political reasons leading to a bloated administration in some departments, i.e. mayor’s office, while other departments are without the correct or adequate manpower. We only have 5 university graduate engineers left in the Metro, 1 civil, 1 mechanical and 3 electrical. To efficiently run this Metro it requires at least 16 engineers and these should each have at least 6 years experience, with management skills;
- When the Stadium got the go-ahead to be built, the agreement was that National Government would contribute 70%, Provincial Government agreed to 20% with the NMMM paying the balance of 10%. The total cost of the Stadium was R3.5b, the amount short paid by National government was R79m, Provincial short paid by R460m. This Municipality should only have borne expenditure of R340m, in terms of the 70 : 20 : 10 split but we finally paid R878m from out coffers, R538m more than was budgeted for. In August of last year the extent of our financial woes became known and, of course, the cost of the stadium was a big contributor to this;
- Our traffic department should be a major source of income as it used to be but it is not. Poor productivity, bad management and a very strong union has helped lead our Traffic Department into a mire of mismanagement and poor controls. An amount of in excess of R 60 Million in fines is still outstanding and there appears to be no urgency in recovering this amount. At present the traffic officials write out an equivalent of 1 fine every 2 days. It used to be 5 fines per day. It is imperative that this issue is corrected. A positive cash flow can only be achieved in this department if we collect our debt and issue fines where necessary, at an average rate of 5 fines per day.
- With the current cash crisis, we have to reduce our expenditure and we need to start this process by removing some of the non-essential positions from our organogram. The ANC Chief Whip and all his staff cost this Metro an unnecessary R3.3m per month. Take out 50% of our communication department and also 50% of our legal department. Certain positions from the mayor’s office, which are purely political appointments, must go and so we need to follow through, throughout the organization.
- Expenditure can further be reduced by putting a stop to the use of hired vehicles and indeed private vehicles which we end up having to pay for at a per kilometer rate.
- We have a number of property leases that have, or are due to expire. Review these leases, cancel the unnecessary ones, negotiate market related rentals and fill up empty office space. Just look at Kwantu Towers on the Market Square – it is half empty – do we need it?
- Stop using consultants unnecessarily. If a Directorate has the correct qualified staff to do the work, why employ consultants. If the staff are not competent, get rid of them. Use consultants only when necessary.
- We must also go back to an open and transparent approach regarding tenders. The emphasis must be on allocating tenders to the most cost effective and competent tenderer. At present there is a list of consultants used by our municipality who can charge the maximum laid down rate as set by the appropriate institute. Save a fortune and put consulting work out to tender.
I can go on and on. The bottom line is we need to rid this Metro of outside political interference. In the past, and it worked well, there was a strong municipal manager/town clerk, with the backup of an excellent management team. In those days, there was no need for politicians to get involved in the day to day running of the city. The politicians would do what they should be doing and that is setting policies and monitoring the running of the metro. The lack of this strong team is what is crippling the Municipality and undermining the efforts of all who are committed to bringing stability back into our metro. The start of this process will be the publication of the Kabuso Report. This will also start an era which will see stability return to the administration. Hopefully we will begin this process by seeing the last of our Acting Municipal Manager (here the emphasis is on “Acting”) and see the appointment of a competent Municipal Manager, not one of the proposed stooges that we hear might be appointed.
Once this process starts and the Kabuso Report is released, then we will see if the ANC is prepared to deal effectively with the fraud, corruption and maladministration that has crippled this metro.
Due to the state of our Metro, pressure is being brought to bear on you – the ratepayer. Not only consumers but businesses as well, are under severe pressure. With company budgets in most cases already stretched to the limit, pressure for higher wages, growing unemployment, limited job expectations, pressure on household income and, therefore, a lack of confidence from business and the consumer.
I am sincerely sorry for being all doom and gloom. Certainly not a very inspirational or entertaining talk, I’d say. However, we all need to know what is facing us, we need to go out and tell our friends and family of the very urgent need for everyone to spread the word to support the DA in its fight for a better run municipality, benefiting all of us.
Let us now look at the Property Rates Amendment Bill and the new rates imposed on us all by this Municipality.
Firstly Property Rates. If you have a second property, this property will not be taxed at commercial rates as was feared. However, we need clarity from the minister – what properties will be rated commercially. As he stated: “Properties used for gain…” does this include letting out a room in your home to a student for instance.
We do know that guest houses, bed and breakfast establishments, small hotels and the like will be charged at the commercial rate. Here we have a fight on our hands as the new rates will have a dramatic and negative effect on this sector, causing businesses to close and the ripple effect will also affect our tourist industry.
There is also a grey area regarding the letting of a portion of your home, be it a granny flat or rooms in your home that needs clarity. We, the DA, will remain opposed to any change in the rating system regarding a residential property and the more parties that stand together in opposing the new property rates, the better our chance of success. It is unclear how this will affect the shacks in the Northern Areas and Townships. Of course, it is highly unlikely that the same conditions that apply to you will be enforced in these areas.
Look at the recent tariff hikes which became effective on 1 July. Initially council proposed increases as follows: 25.82% for electricity, 14% for property rates, 15% for water and 14% for refuse removal and sanitation. The DA fought for a 20.38% increase on electricity and an 8% across the board increase in all other areas. We finally ended up with electricity at 22% and the rest at 11.5%. Electricity will be supplied to the (ATTP) customer (assistance to the poor) at 16%, small businesses at 24% and 28% for medium and large businesses.
The budget is under-funded by R336m. It is not sustainable as it stands and it will result in ever more financial turmoil. The total budget amounts to R8b, of which R6.6b is operating and R1.36b is capital.
As you know, the DA does not support the budget, especially while political appointments and wasteful expenditure continue, so will our cash flow crisis continue.
This budget does not address our ailing infrastructure, nor does it address job creation. In certain directorates, once the wage bill has been paid, there will be little left in the budgets for maintenance and infrastructure, let alone money for vehicle maintenance and petrol. At present, it will only get worse – the back log on maintenance is growing, this will result in your services deteriorating even further. You experienced recently in this area the failure of your electrical supply as a result of the breakdown of the very important sub-station – this will happen on an ever increasing basis and not only with regard to electricity.
In closing, if we are going to see our Metro bounce back to its former glory, we are going to have to fight every issue that negatively affects us – from the mismanagement to the failing infrastructure, the property rates issue, corruption, and the rest. You, as a ward, need to become more proactive and I can assure you that the DA will be at the forefront of the fight.
This Metro can have a prosperous future, we must just make it happen. The DA was within touching distance of taking this Metro in this last election, if we all really put an effort into it, this next election will see the DA taking the Metro.
Ward1
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