It's all starting to make sense now and my appreciation goes out to our new mayor's commitment to transparency. There is nothing more frustrating than a closed door policy when one can see that things are crumbling.
Maybe you can remember a time when Grocott's Mail published a story about Makana having R53.7million and not spending it. This information emerged at a meeting of the Budget, Treasury and IDP Portfolio Committee in April when municipal officials were left with two months to spend R53.7 million – 80% of the capital expenditure and conditional grant budget for 2010/2011 – before a large chunk of it gets returned to National Treasury. The councillors at the meeting were furious about this.
It's all starting to make sense now and my appreciation goes out to our new mayor's commitment to transparency. There is nothing more frustrating than a closed door policy when one can see that things are crumbling.
Maybe you can remember a time when Grocott's Mail published a story about Makana having R53.7million and not spending it. This information emerged at a meeting of the Budget, Treasury and IDP Portfolio Committee in April when municipal officials were left with two months to spend R53.7 million – 80% of the capital expenditure and conditional grant budget for 2010/2011 – before a large chunk of it gets returned to National Treasury. The councillors at the meeting were furious about this.
Frustrated that it just had to happen before their term of office ended. It was a reality that only a few of the projects which they've spent months planning would come to fruition. It was also bad timing for the local government elections which saw politicians playing a defensive role and keeping residents assured that all was good and the municipality would not be stripped dry of any funding.
After the elections at the first council meeting, mayor Zamuxolo Peter announced to the new council that the municipality would adopt a Financial Management Improvement Plan. This, he said, they regarded as a vigorous approach to restructuring the Finance Directorate and the institution at large. I still couldn't figure out what the problem really was. But now at a Special Council meeting, Peter humbled himself and informed the council that they had to apply for a roll-over of unspent funds of conditional allocations from the 2010/11 to 2011/12 financial year. He also instructed the municipal manager, Ntombi Baart to provide a detailed report on how this happened. According to Baart, conditional allocations such as the Municipal Infrastructure Grant which are not spent by the end of June, must then be explained to the National Treasury. The Mayor and Municipal Manger must submit an application to National Treasury with reasons on non-expenditure before 31 August. The treasury would then confirm in writing by the end of September, whether or not the municipality may retain the unspent funds.
The 2011/12 to 2013/14 annual budgets therefore have to be revised (in accordance with he provisions of section 28 of the Municipal Finance Management Act) as a result of unspent funds on a number of capital projects as at the end of the 2010/11 financial year.
Mayor Peter seems genuinely bent towards shaping up the municipality with assistance of equally eager council members such as Pierre Ranchhod and the municipal manager – who in the midst of incompetence at times has come close to Atlas, the Greek mythological figure who held the world on his shoulders. The mayor has taken on the 'bad guy' role to officials – the opposite to his laid-back and charming character – and maybe some evidence that he means business.
Deployees of National Treasury are in town to support him in this endeavour. They have advised no expenditure be made on the outstanding projects until everything is sorted with National Treasury. "I just hope for the best," Peter said at the recent council meeting. And we do too, so we can live in the promised land of Makana, optimistically described as 'a great place to be'.
