The Mayor of the Tshwane Metro Council, Dr Nasiphi Moya, and her coalition were very pleased to announce that they had tabled a funded budget for the first time in years.
The latest adjustments to the SDBIP (Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan) prove the opposite: The budget was unrealistic and the Metro has had to downwardly adjust Key Performance Areas (KPAs) because the original targets were not achieved.
Summary of downward KPA adjustments:
• Financial health: Reserves, liquidity ratios and collection rates have been lowered. The Metro overestimated its financial resilience and is unable to meet revenue targets.
• Utilities: Financial margins for electricity, water, sanitation and refuse have been adjusted downwards. While tariffs keep climbing, the Metro is delivering less.
• Housing and community services: Land acquisition for housing and refuse removal in informal settlements have been scaled back. This comes down to breaking promises made to residents.
• Organisational capacity: Within just six months, filling vacancies has been scaled back as well, meaning the administration cannot build capacity for important grass-roots posts.
These adjustments are an admission of failure: over-promising, under-delivering and now lowering standards to conceal the failures.
Residents pay more taxes and tariffs, while the Metro itself acknowledges that it cannot meet its original KPA targets.
This is a clear sign of the Mayor and her coalition’s poor governance. The so-called “funded budget” was an illusion with the downward adjustments serving as clear proof.
Yet another reason why voting for the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) is imperative.
