Budget improved, but challenges stay

ON FRIDAY June 7 this year the Nelson Mandela Bay council unanimously approved the 2013/14 budget.

The DA supported the much-improved budget after a great deal of debate in both budget and treasury/ mayoral committee meetings and a series of council meetings. We are confident that our concerns have been taken into consideration and that the budget is acceptable.

The DA is pleased to confirm a reduction in property rates from 13% to 9.14%. This is a significant improvement. Water, sanitation and refuse remain at 13% and electricity remains fixed at 7% as per the instruction of the National Energy Regulator (Nersa).

Electricity losses, due mainly to illegal connections, and our non-revenue water losses, will be the subject of a report which must be presented to council by June 30. This report must lay out a plan to reduce these losses as a matter of great urgency.

A further report from the traffic department will outline a strategy to recover the millions in outstanding traffic fines. Recovering outstanding fines and curbing water and electricity losses will substantially improve the financial condition of the municipality.

The DA fully supports a pro-poor budget.

Unfortunately, even with a pro-poor budget in place, the eradication of the bucket system will not take place during the financial year 2013/14 as only R9-million is on the budget for this purpose. This equates to eliminating only 360 bucket toilets (estimate R25 000 per unit). We estimate that there are 38 000 buckets that have to be eradicated in this metro. While the budget is pro-poor this and other urgent issues like backlogs of housing cannot be dealt with in the short term.

CLLR ANGELO DASHWOOD, DA SPOKESMAN BUDGET & TREASURY, NELSON MANDELA METRO MUNICIPALITY