Little improvement in revenue collection rate

The Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM) recently tabled its third quarter section 52D report which highlighted minimal strides by the institution to improve its revenue collection rate, which was at 10% in the previous financial year.

CHDM mayor Wongama Gela referred to the report as a stale one as it

“” was only tabled at the end of the fourth quarter.

However, much as he admitted the report did not reflect the good performance of the institution, the mayor indicated that they had since applied some corrective measures to mitigate issues in the report. The revenue for

“the quarter ending March 31 exceeds the cash expenditure as per the quarterly performance. The cash surplus recognised by the municipality was as a result of the grant funding from national treasury and provincial state departments that have been realised in the quarterly accounting records for the current financial year,” said Gela.

The mayor said the continuous low collection rate of consumer debts had averaged at 10% for the past few years, with no tangible indication that it might have increased in the last quarter of the previous financial year.

As the municipality started its 2020/21 financial year this month, Gela promised some improvements in its functions, including interventions and corrective measures to mitigate some of the shortfalls as reflected in the third quarter report.

The mayor said the municipality had also reviewed its organogram which was approved by council, with 13 new positions, including that of a district engineer to assist the engineering directorate and local municipalities. We have since “established a number of working groups to intervene on matters and to check on progress in terms of the decisions we make.

The groups will “also provide corrective measures as things happen, rather than waiting until the end of the quarter when we table a report to intervene as we previously did.

We are a water “services authority and provider. Previously in the organogram these two functions were in one unit.

We have decided “to separate them so they may receive attention in their respective units.

Another change we have instituted is the appointment of a registered district engineer which will assist the institution and its local authorities immensely.”

Gela said all the changes made at the municipality, including the removal of the planning function in the integrated planning and economic development directorate (Iped) to the strategic management services directorate, were for the better running of the institution.