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ActionSA is deeply concerned, however not entirely surprised, that National Treasury has rejected the roll-over amount of R1.2 billion of the R 1.9 billion which was allocated to the eThekwini Municipality. There is a very real human cost for the Metro’s wanton disregard and abject failure to spend this money on projects that residents of the city desperately need.

This cannot go unanswered. To this end, ActionSA will raise this issue vociferously at tomorrow’s Council sitting.

These funds were meant to be spent on capital projects in the 2022/23 financial year. In August this year, the City Manager, Mr Musa Mbhele, requested to roll-over the R 1.9 billion grant as these funds had gone unspent. In assessing the request, National Treasury rejected the roll-over of R 1.2 billion with the main reasons being the inability to complete and submit the necessary documentation correctly.

This rejection of the roll over by National Treasury, once again, highlights that eThekwini’s leadership is rudderless and wantonly negligent, while the ANC-led coalition preoccupies itself with irrational spend of what little money they do have on SAMA Awards and ANCWL Conferences.

It is inconceivable that the municipality could not spend these funds in the 2022/23 financial year, especially with infrastructure being in such a dire state. 

We have raised our concerns at various council and committee meetings about the inability of the municipality to spend its capital budget. Unfortunately, these concerns have fallen on deaf ears. The Mayor also needs to take blame as he has recently prevented councillors doing oversight visits to monitor the progress of capital expenditure.

The failure of municipal leaders to properly complete and submit necessary documents to National Treasury further highlights the troubling nature of the Municipality, where we have leaders who fail to merely complete documents.

Which is another unfortunate blow for the residents of the Municipality who are faced with deteriorating infrastructure, water losses at record highs, closure of beaches due to high E. coli levels, and sub-standard housing.

The withdrawal of the R1.2 billion is a true reflection of how woeful the ANC-led coalition municipality has become. It is unfortunate that, once again, the residents and business of eThekwini are paying the price for this incompetence. 

ActionSA will fight to ensure that those responsible for this withdrawal of the R1.2 billion conditional grant are held to account, and we will press for answers in this regard at the eThekwini council meeting tomorrow.

Issued by ActionSA eThekiwini Caucus Member Alan Beesley