Makana's Mayor, Zamuxolo Peter, has acknowledged that there were disruptions of services to the community for two weeks while municipal workers embarked on a strike.
Makana's Mayor, Zamuxolo Peter, has acknowledged that there were disruptions of services to the community for two weeks while municipal workers embarked on a strike.
Local resident, Sue Reynolds, took matters into her own hands by dropping off her black refuse bags outside the Mayor’s office door.
Reynolds collected all of the street’s rubbish strewn across the pavements, as well as her own, and packed it into black bags.
In his address to council on Tuesday, the mayor apologised to Reynolds and all the residents of Makana for the inconvenience the strike has caused.
"I must apologise to the residents of Makana, especially to Mrs Reynolds," Peter said.
"It is our responsibility (that) residents could not be attended to due to the strike that took two weeks. We engaged with Samwu leadership so that we could amicably find a solution."
He said the municipality management and Samwu leadership have since signed a Memorandum of Understanding. "We expect both parties to respect that agreement," he said.
As the current financial year ends in Makana, municipal officials are busy preparing for the next financial year, while an oversight report from the Auditor General is yet to be released.
Makana Municipality failed to comply with the local government legislation to table the oversight report by the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC).
The reason for the non compliance was the late submission of the Annual Financial Statements to the Auditor General.
Acting municipal manager, Mandisi Planga, told the council that letters have been written to the local government department to explain the reasons for non-compliance.
During a special council meeting on Tuesday, Peter told council that even though the report from the AG's office has not yet been released, the council must be prepared for another disclaimer.
"We failed to submit our Annual Financial Statements on time; we rely on service providers to do our financial statements…. It is clear already that the audit outcome will not improve and it is disappointing (due to) the non-submission of information," said Peter.
He said there is lack of financial accountability in the institution and Council must start asking hard questions.
The council tabled a draft Integrated Development Plan Review for 2014/15 together with the draft Budget for the 2014/15 financial year.
Makana has to find R108.6 million for the budget to balance, but council speaker, Rachel Madinda-Isaac, specified that the two documents were a work-in-progress.
The total operational budget is R 451 million, with revenues of around R 344 million.
Residents and stakeholders have a chance to comment on the draft documents because the final budget is tabled at the end of May.
Commenting on the draft documents, Councillor Les Reynolds said he commended the people who compiled the document ,but warned that the Service Delivery Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP) should be monitored monthly.
"We need to make sure that the wonderful stuff in these documents actually takes place," said Reynolds.
According to the budget timetable, Peter will embark on road shows in the next month to meet communities and discuss the budget and IDP review for the 2014/15 financial year.
