UThukela municipality plans to spend R20.4m on security challenged

THE uThukela District Municipality will spend millions of rand on security contracts to protect its assets and councillors.

In the 2020/21 financial year, it will spend about R20.4 million on security, the budget for this financial year shows.

About R10m will be for VIP security and R10.4m for general security.

The spending has, however, riled opposition parties who alleged that these contracts would provide security for councillors and officials, they said that no threat assessment had been done to qualify them for security.

DA uThukela councillor Khulekani Msibi said they were yet to get an explanation as to why the council was spending so much on security.

“The guards who look after the municipal infrastructure do not carry weapons. What is more concerning is we have these guards, and yet the municipal infrastructure is vandalised while they are supposed to be their guardian.

“We’re also concerned about the money spent on VIP protection. There are so many managers that walk around with bodyguards. We are never even provided with the preliminary reports on their threat assessment.

“In this municipality we are told today that a particular official has been threatened and the following day they are walking around with two bodyguards,” he said.

He said they were also concerned with the structure of the budget as the 6% increase for water and sanitation was unaffordable for a large proportion of the community, most of whom were unemployed.

“It’s clear that this municipality does not prioritise its citizens. Residents barely have water, and yet, the municipality thinks it acceptable to increase their tariffs. It’s unable to collect on the money it’s owed. There are townships like Zakheni where it is not collecting,” he said.

EFF councillor Zondle Msobomvu said that overall they supported the budget.

He said he was aware of the concerns over the security contract but would not comment on the issue.

Municipal spokesperson Jabulani Mkhonza denied that officials received protection.

He said the security budget was meant for the protection of buildings and the water treatment plant.

“As a water authority service, we have many plants that we need to protect against burglary and vandalism,” he said.

Earlier this year, the municipality’s infrastructure at the Ezakheni Water Treatment Works was severely damaged during protest action in Ladysmith.

The damaged infrastructure included essential machines, cables and pipes.

Mkhonza also said the VIP security was for political leadership.

“No officials have been allocated security except for the political leadership,” he said.

He added that the tariffs were not cost reflective and were far below the tariffs of other district municipalities.

He added that the municipality did not even break even on the provision of water and sanitation services.