The State of the City Address (SOCA) by the Tshwane Metro Mayor, Dr. Nasiphi Moya, was largely based on several unfounded assumptions and, consequently, empty promises that will affect basic service delivery.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) has already criticised the tabling of a funded budget seeing as it primarily hinges on increasing revenue through raising property tax.
At this stage, it is nothing more than an assumption because the process of reviewing the valuation roll, on which the increase in property tax collection is based, has not yet been finalised.
There was much ado about a projected economic growth rate of 3,9% between 2026 and 2029 through creating an investor-friendly environment. How this will be achieved remains to be seen as a recent survey among investors indicated that there is no drive to invest in Tshwane.
No incentives are implemented to bring it about either.
The so-called success of settling, among others, Eskom debt is highly commended, while it is simply complying with a court order. If the court order was not complied with, Tshwane would have been plunged into a financial crisis.
The reduction from almost R30 billion to R25 billion in the debtor’s ledger was also highlighted as commendable and is the result of improved revenue collection of outstanding debt and the recently implemented scheme of writing off outstanding debt.
Since no concrete figures were mentioned, there hangs a question mark over the success of debt collection versus writing off debt, and the impact it will have on cash flow.
Promising to improve basic municipal services is a pipedream. The current state of Tshwane serves as proof, in fact, residents are experiencing the decline of basic service delivery firsthand.
The achieved successes can be attributed to the foundation laid by the former administration, of which the Freedom Front Plus was part.
One example is securing the Council’s assets by making use of technology instead of security services. The governing ANC-EFF-ActionSA coalition is taking credit for the ground-breaking work of the former Freedom Front Plus Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Grandi Theunissen.
The same goes for the many projects undertaken by the former Freedom Front Plus Mayoral Committee Member for Health, Rina Marx.
In short, the SOCA is nothing but an unattainable wish list compiled by the governing coalition based on numerous unfounded assumptions.
The Freedom Front Plus will, however, exercise strict oversight to ensure that the wish list is complied with, as far as possible, in an effort to improve basic service delivery to residents.
