Ekurhuleni metro finance MMC Nkululeko Dunga on Thursday tabled a R57.6bn budget for the 2023/24 financial year, pledging to fight crime and corruption, and roll out free solar panels and geysers to informal settlements to cushion the poor from load-shedding.
R55.9bn of Dunga’s maiden budget was allocated to operating expenditure, a clear indication the council is focused on service delivery ahead of the general elections in 2024. Dunga set aside R2.7bn for capital expenditure.
Dunga, the Gauteng chair of the EFF, said the metro intended funding the operating expenditure with R49bn from charges for the provision of basic municipal services, while the remaining R6.3bn will be funded by equitable share allocation and grants.
He said about 66% of the city’s budget revenue of R55.3bn for 2023/24 was projected to come from electricity, water, sanitation and refuse collection charges. “We must therefore maintain the infrastructures of these departments as they materially contribute to our revenue base,” he said.
“The proposed revenue of the overall budget we are speaking to today is R55.3bn, which is made up of R22bn from the sale of electricity, R8.6bn from property rates, R6.7bn from water revenue, R3.2bn from sanitation revenue, R1.8bn from refuse revenue, R1.3bn from interest earned on outstanding debts and just under R5bn from interest earned on investments, rental of facilities and equipment, licences and permits, and other sources of revenue,” Dunga said.
“We also receive R6.2bn from other revenue sources such as national and provincial governments in the form of equitable share and conditional grants.”
Switching off defaulters
The metro, which has a population of 3.7-million, is regarded as SA’s manufacturing hub, contributing 19.7% to Gauteng’s economy and about 6.9% to national GDP. It is seeking to bolster its revenue by disconnecting residents, companies, state-owned enterprises and government departments, who are in arrears on their bills.
“They must make payments within seven days after this speech or risk being cut off, in line with our credit control policies,” Dunga said.
The city also aims to strengthen its collection of traffic fines and consolidate its broadband and fibre infrastructure, which could be a source of additional revenue in the medium to long-term, he said.
The insourcing of essential services such as waste collection will save the municipality hundreds of millions of rand, he added.
“As the immediate intervention, we have allocated R2.8bn for environment and waste management, and we will use R54m of the allocated budget to buy waste collection trucks.”
Dunga allocated R77.6m for the upkeep of parks across the metro’s nine towns, 17 townships, 163 informal settlements and 112 municipal wards.
A further R47m was allocated to ensure waste disposal and landfill sites are always “operational and clean”, while R15m was set aside for the mayoral bursary scheme.
Health and social development were allocated R1.3bn, tourism R25m, and the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department will get R10m.
R256m will be spent on roads, including the repair of fixing potholes and cleaning the stormwater drainage system.
Dunga bemoaned the unreliable supply of electricity in the metro, adding: “We will do everything in our power to make sure that no electricity is cut off in all essential water and sanitation infrastructure, clinics, hospitals, and all other essential services.
“We are also going to extend this assistance to small, micro and medium enterprises whose accounts are up to date and employ a lot of our people to make sure that we protect their operations from the impact of load-shedding.”
Alternative energy
He said the metro will immediately look into short- and medium-term energy solutions, including a combination of hybrid, off-grid and micro-grid systems.
The municipality will soon issue a “request for information to potential investors who are willing to enter into public-private partnerships and who are willing to enter into build-operate-transfer (BOT) contracts for additional electricity generation capacity for the City of Ekurhuleni”.
“To address the blackouts, we are committing to provide solar panels to people in informal settlements. We are going to buy these solar panels and give them to our people, especially the poorest of the poor and townships,” said Dunga.
As part of “restoring the city’s finances”, Dunga proposed a 4.4% assessment rate increase in tariffs. “This is 0.9% lower than the consumer price index. Excluding higher water and electricity increases, which are determined and imposed by Rand Water and National Energy Regulator of SA, we are proposing a 5.3% tariff increase for key municipal services,” he said.
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