The challenges facing Buffalo City Metro are well-documented. Among them are the shambolic billing system which has resulted in legal battles, questions over the R87m spent on the Leighandre Jegels Recreational Park, delays in finishing the Waterworld Fun Park and Mdantsane swimming pool, historical problems with expenditure of R50m ward allocations, as well the financially precarious position of the metro.
While some of the problems might be technical, most of them boil down to lack of transparency and accountability.
Last month, mayor Princess Faku said BCM had nearly R1bn in its reserves.
When asked for clarity on the city’s financial turnaround, she remained mum.
Conversely, councillors claimed that the R1bn Faku was referring to was mainly made up of “cash equivalents or call investment deposits” to the value of R692.6m.
And that leaves residents and taxpayers guessing about the city’s financial position.
On Monday, we reported on a new row between BCM and its stakeholders — the council approved the 2024/2025 budget and Integrated Development Plan (IDP) without physically meeting ratepayers.
Citing the Municipal Systems Act, councillors say such consultations must be done with the public as the budget and IDP matters affect them.
They also claim that they were informed of the sitting less than 24 hours before, giving them little time to prepare by going through the weighty council reports.
In its defence, the metro says a newspaper advert calling for comments on the draft IDP and budget was published on April 5 and comments were indeed received at their offices and on other social media platforms.
At the height of Covid-19, it was understandable to conduct consultations in this form.
We wonder what justification the authorities have in the present situation.
Failure to conduct roadshows and inviting councillors at short notice raises questions as to what was the motive?
With the literacy levels in SA, smartphone accessibility and poverty, so many people were obviously denied an opportunity to physically lodge objections against tariff hike proposals.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has repeatedly emphasised that under his government “no-one will be left behind”.
Clearly in this case, the ANC-led BCM council is not acting in sync with this mantra.
Failure to conduct roadshows and inviting councillors at short notice raises questions as to what was the motive?
Such conduct trivialises the IDP and budget process. It reduces it to a tick box exercise that disregards some residents and their representatives.
Hence we will agree with those who say the city fathers probably did not want to do roadshows as they were busy campaigning for the general elections.
Gone are the days when residents would simply accept top-down governance without queries.
We implore the city authorities to bring into its confidence residents and ratepayers on matters affecting them all the time.
All they need is transparency and accountability from their elected leaders.
DispatchLIVE
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