By Zolile Menzelwa
Senior Reporter
Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM) is owed over R1.3-billion by homeowners, sector government departments, the business fraternity and the six local municipalities within the district for water services and sanitation – the core functions of district municipalities.
This was revealed by CHDM executive mayor Wongama Gela when he delivered his state of the district address on Wednesday in Indwe, Eastern Cape. “Our debt recovery or debt collection rate remains at 11%, a situation most regrettable. Domestic debt is rising and now stands at R1.3-billion, which is 91% of the total debt. Government departments are the second culprits with their debt at R53-million which is around 3.6%. The business sector follows at R49-million which is 3.3% with local municipalities at R18.5-million which is 1.3% of the total debt,” Gela said to murmurs from around 1 200 people who attended the event including former mayors and members of the provincial legislature.
Gela said local municipalities were suffering the same fate as the district with residents, government departments and business not paying for services used. He encouraged payment of services especially by those who could afford adding that the money would be invested in improving service delivery for the same communities. Local municipalities are suffering cash flow challenges, Gela said, more particularly those that are electricity providers with Eskom implementing its revenue enhancement strategy stringently. “Eskom cuts electricity in some of our local municipalities, then our ability to provide water and sanitation gets affected negatively.”
Gela said the municipal budget for the 2019/2020 financial year was R1.4-billion with R948.2-million, translating to 67%, set for the operating budget. The operating budget is for salaries and day to day running of the municipality. The district authority underspent its budget for two consecutive years with Gela vowing this would not happen again as it undermined service delivery efforts. CHDM completed 24 projects in the last financial year to the tune of R520-million. These include 11 on water reticulation, eight on bulk water supply, five water treatment works and refurbishing of 10 water schemes around the district. Council adopted a contractor development policy which will see local contractors getting at least 30% subcontracting work.
The district authority has set aside R9.5-million to support the small towns revitalisation programme. The municipality has also provided enterprise development support to local businesses leading to business formalisation of 54 cooperatives, cooperative governance support to 24, stimulated the growth of 17 cooperatives and stimulated the growth of 13 other cooperatives through incubation. An amount of R10-million has been set aside for the planning phase of the Rural Agro-Industries and Finance Initiative (Rafi). “This programme seeks to establish new agricultural production of just over 200 000 hectares of land distributed throughout the province over a six year period which will yield 70 000 new decent job opportunities,” Gela said.
The first phase budget of R11-million for planning has already been released by the municipality. To promote the development of tourism, the district authority has budgeted R7.8-million. Through its Chris Hani Development Agency (CHDA), the district authority spent R500 000 on vaccines assisting 4 280 farmers. The Komani Industrial Park revitalisation programme is currently underway, Gela said, with the Department of Trade and Industry having approved a budget of R45-million. This will cover the costs of road construction and fencing mainly targeting the Ezibeleni side. The municipality’s community skills project aimed at producing scarce skills through bursaries, internships and leanerships continues. Through this project bursaries are offered to deserving prospective students and R2-million has been set aside for the coming financial year with 21 beneficiaries.
The municipality has also been able to raise over R7.3-million through partnerships with a variety of Setas. Irrigation schemes will be revitalised through a service level agreement between CHDA and the department of rural development and agrarian reform at the value of R3.2-million. “We will ensure that we spend our scarce resources on improving service delivery, cut the fat and we wish to warn all those involved in malfeasance, misdemeanors, corruption and maladministration to deter from such acts as we commit to fight crime and corruption with vigor,” Gela said.
