The DA in the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality (TMDM) voted against the 2024-’25 annual budget tabled in the council meeting.
In a press release issued on Thursday, 6 June, the DA expressed its displeasure with the new budget and said that the budget did not address the crucial shortcomings in the service delivery nightmare that haunted residents of the district.
The total employee and councilor cost in the budget equals R113 255 320, which consists of 63,6% of the total budget of R178 030 256. This leaves an amount of R64 774 936 available, which consists of 36,38% of the total budget.
Depreciation cost stands at R3 175 965, which is taken away from the R64 774 936 available funds, leaving R61 598 971 available for spending on service delivery-related planned expenditure.
From this R61 598 971 another total amount of R13 072 000 is set aside for grants, allocated specifically for the Finance Management Grant (FMG), Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), Energy Efficient and Demand Side Management (EEDSM), Rural Roads Asset Management System (RRAMS), and the Agricultural Sector Education Training Authority (AgriSETA).
That leaves only R48 526 971 available, which represents 27,25% of the total budget.
It is perceived that the municipality spends money on unnecessary activities, such as:
- catering services amounting to R1 542 363, equaling 3,17% of the available R48 526 971;
- event promoters, amounting to R1 255 463, which is equal to 2,58% of the available R48 526 971; and
- transport fees, which amounts to R1 616 716, which equals 3,33% of the available R48 526 971.
Marius Marais, DA councilor, said these items cost the municipality R4 414 542, which is 9,09% of the available budget of R48 526 971, yet the municipality only budgeted 0,10% for the Disaster Management Centre and only 1,03% for its emergency response.
“Although we welcome the budget allocation of 0,51% of the available budget for repairs and pothole maintenance, it is not indicated where this maintenance will be conducted and if this allocation is enough to have a real impact.”
The DA said that this budget did not address the real service delivery issues of communities in the TMDM.
Challenges that need to be addressed include residents struggling without electricity supply in their informal homes in the small farming community of Slabbert outside of Bethlehem, along the R26 road to Fouriesburg. Additionally, the scraping of the informal soccer field that local soccer players use, has not been done.
Communities of the towns of Fouriesburg, Rosendal, and Paul Roux are facing daily challenges with electricity and water cuts as a result of many faults that are not receiving the repair and replacement attention that is needed.
“Potholes are tormenting all of us, and there seems to be no real action within the budget to actively address the problems we have with the poor road infrastructure within our municipality. Sewage is flowing freely into our streams and rivers, contaminating our fresh water resources.”
