R1.75m for local municipalities
THE FOUR local municipalities in the Frances Baard district (Sol Plaatje, Phokwane, Magareng and Dikgatlong) have each been allocated R1.75 million, where the total budget for the 2018/19 financial year amounts to R127.6 million.
The operational budget amounts to R126.8 million while the capital budget for the Frances Baard District Municipality is R8 million.
The budget for the 2018/19 year has a deficit of R7.3 million.
Delivering the budget speech yesterday, the acting Frances Baard district mayor, Wende Marekwa, stated that strict cost-containment measures would be implemented to ensure that district municipalities’ reserves were not depleted.
“Budget constraints remain a factor and only infrastructure allocations, allocated to four local municipalities, will be used for operation and maintenance.”
He said this would include belt-tightening measures being introduced on advertisements, bursaries, training, catering for commemorative days, entertainment, travel and accommodation, resettlement costs and outsourcing of services as well as support for the Diamonds and Dorings Festival.
“The financial position of the municipality has declined over the years as accumulated reserves were utilised to supplement the deficit. The current situation is threatening the financial sustainability of the municipality in the near future.”
Marekwa indicated that the infrastructure budget had been slashed by 70 percent for the 2018/19 financial year, due to financial constraints and a decrease in cash-backed reserves.
“An allocation of R7 million was provided for operation and maintenance to local municipalities. As a result, the district municipality will only be able to assist local municipalities with operation and maintenance of equipment and infrastructure for the 2018/19 financial year.”
He stated that they will provide support and technical expertise to local municipalities that have capacity constraints.
Marekwa added that it was estimated that 5 493 households in the district had no access to water and about 16 317 households lacked access to proper sanitation.
“This is mainly due to the high cost to eradicate backlogs. Municipalities in the district are also dependent mainly on grant funding for infrastructure provision.
“Grants and subsidies remain the biggest source of income for the district municipality. The municipality received an amount of R120 million in grants from national government.
“The economic development of the district remains a priority and the district municipality allocated R3 million and R2.6 million towards local economic development and tourism.”
Marekwa said that the district would have to provide a large portion of counter funding for smaller local municipalities that struggled to raise additional money.
“The recent drought that we are experiencing countrywide also puts constraints on water conservation. Water losses and non-revenue are still very high in local municipalities.”
Marekwa pointed out that Frances Baard District Municipality did not have the capacity to render district health services due to budget and personnel constraints.
“We are rendering the service to Dikgatlong and Magareng municipalities only, while Sol Plaatje and Phokwane municipalities have been rendering services in their respective areas.”
He stated that the establishment of firefighting services in the district remained a challenge.
“This is due to a lack of human capital to execute the function and funding for the establishment of firefighting facilities.
“The establishment of the district disaster management centre remains a challenge even though the planning stages for the establishment of the disaster centre has been concluded.
“The district still only has fire services in the Sol Plaatje Local Municipality.
“Extensive research has been done to investigate the possibility of establishing a fire station in the district, while cost estimates for the establishment of the district disaster management centre and a medium-pumper fire engine has been procured.”