Joburg council gives nod to R59bn budget

The Johannesburg city council finally passed the city’s R59bn budget on Tuesday after it was rejected twice.

The Johannesburg city council finally passed the city’s R59bn budget on Tuesday after it had been rejected twice in the past two weeks by opposition parties claiming it was anti-poor.

Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba said the council had passed the multiparty coalition government’s operational and capital budgets and Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for the 2018-19 financial year in full compliance with the Municipal Finance Management Act.

This was the second budget passed under the combined leadership of the DA‚ Inkatha Freedom Party‚ African Christian Democratic Party‚ United Democratic Movement‚ Congress of the People and Freedom Front Plus, with the support of the EFF and the African Independent Congress‚ Mashaba said.

A major sticking point for opposition parties in the council was the proposed tariff hikes for water and electricity.

However, Mashaba said that after engagement between parties in council over the past few weeks an approach was taken to reduce the tariffs for water and electricity.

“By [so] doing‚ council has achieved a caring and sensitive approach to household income, which is under strain from various decisions of national and provincial government‚” he said.

“Equally the tariffs approved will enable the city to generate its revenue that will drive the fundamental change — Diphetogo — to our communities.”

“The Diphetogo project‚ at its core, means real transformational change and prioritises investment in the service delivery backlogs that plague our communities. We have taken the decision to deprioritise the nonessential elements‚ cut unnecessary expenditure and redirect these savings for our service delivery infrastructure backlog.”