A budget allocation of R96.7m to the Buffalo City Metro Development Agency (BCMDA) has left ANC councillors divided, with some saying the entity had nothing to show despite the millions it received every year.
The allocation came under scrutiny on Wednesday when mayor Xola Pakati tabled the metro’s plans for the 2019-2020 financial year which starts on July 1.
BCMDA was formed in 2016 and is attached to the metro’s department of economic development agencies.
The ANC caucus revealed mixed response to the R96.7m allocation with deputy mayor Zoliswa Matana distancing herself from the approval of the total of R400m to BCMDA between 2019 and 2022. The agency will receive R136.8m in 2020-21 and R166.5m in 2021-22.
“I wont agree with this amount to BCMDA as I adopt the budget because it does not assist us,” she said.
“We requested that amount to go to LED instead. I wrote to the office of the chief whip [Mawethu Marata] and I emphasised my fears. We raised some concerns in the workshop we had and we requested the city manager to consider our concerns in terms of the budget. “One of the concerns was the issue of BCMDA which is the council entity and the amount it is given to BCMDA understanding fully that it’s our entity.
“We requested the office of the city manager to consider the amount to BCMDA to take the amount to LED. We were very clear about that but there is an element in this council, and that we are being undermined as councillors,” she added.
Matana said the agency kept receiving money “and we have not yet seen what has been implemented in terms of the monies that we have given to the entity”.
She accused city manager Andile Sihlahla and his team of undermining politicians.
“What is this interest in this BCMDA, what is this big interest in BCMDA, we are giving it big monies every year?
“ We have made a very clear request and proposal, I therefore don’t agree with the money given to BCMDA,” Matana said.
Another ANC councillor, Crosby Kolela, criticised the allocation.
“BCMDA is an entity under LED but it has a bigger budget than LED, what is that?” he asked.
When the Dispatch asked BCMDA spokesperson Oyama Makalima what they had achieved, he said the implementation of projects including the revamping of the East London beachfront and Water World were delayed by setting up working systems in line with national treasury’s infrastructure and rollout processes.
“We have been setting up working ground.
“We could not start projects without environmental assessments being done.
“We are now done with evaluating the tender bids and we asked for some funding to be rolled over to the next financial year because we were setting things up.
“That money has not been lost and we are ready to start work in July,” he said.
Asked about the long-standing sleepersite project in the CBD-Quigney area, Makalima said: “BCMDA is still pursuing the project but we are looking for a suitable funding model as that project is big and expensive.”
BCM’s portfolio head for economic development and agencies Mzwandile Vaaiboom said he could not answer as to why the agency had been allocated more money than his department.
“There is nothing to show yet from BCMDA. We also need a meeting with them to see how far they are and get business plans from them.
“They have also been delayed by land release problems,” said Vaaiboom, adding that his department had a total of R53m (capital and operating projects) for the next financial year.
Pakati’s spokesperson Luzuko Buku denied that BCMDA had more allocation than its mother department, but he did not answer as to how much was allocated to the department.
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