Durban — The uMhlathuze Municipality has justified its decision to take a loan of R600 million and also threatened to cut off services for non-paying KwaZulu-Natal government departments.
The uMhlathuze municipality comprises the central business districts of Richards Bay, Empangeni, Heatonville and Buchanana in Ntambanana.
uMhlathuze mayor Xolani Ngwezi said on Tuesday that the loan will be used for funding municipal capital projects, governance, local economic stimulation and infrastructure.
Ngwezi said the process was governed by the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).
The loan for capital expenditure was going to be used in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 budget in the amounts of R390m and R210m respectively, he said.
The following departments will receive a slice of the R600m: community and social services R21m; electricity services R38m; environmental protection R2m; administration R71m; planning and development R49m; roads R27m; sports and recreation R198m; wastewater management R28m; and water management R165m.
Ngwezi also said the municipality has decided to embark on mass disconnections of electricity to all those who owe large sums of money. This, after negotiations and consultations in an attempt to recoup the money owed had failed. Some of these entities owe the municipality more than R45m.
The entities that were disconnected on Thursday include the Department of Education, Social Development, Transport, Eskom and Mhlathuze Water Board, with the last two having paid a portion of their debts and were subsequently reconnected. “We recovered close to R40m through this initiative in less than a week,” he said.
As for water supply, Ngwezi said due to load shedding, the city has major challenges and is thus “in the process of purchasing generators”.
“In KwaDlangezwa the city is in the process to upgrade pump stations.”
Infrastructure services were also procuring five additional water tankers to resolve water shortages in Matshana, near Empangeni, he said.
Deputy mayor and EFF regional chairperson Nkululeko Ngubane claimed as partners in the council, the EFF was not consulted about the loan. He was concerned that the debts would stay with the municipality for generations. As for disconnections, Ngubane said those who owed the municipality were crippling the council.
“This is a country-wide problem. If these debts were to be resolved, that could help bring Eskom into stability.”
Ngubane said the municipality was making progress on water supply.
uMhlathuze Municipality spokesperson Bongani Gina said what the EFF was saying was not true because the decision to take the loan had been taken in the council sitting on May 25, 2022, when it approved a medium-term revenue and expenditure framework.
DA councillor Christo Botha said in terms of disconnections, for years under the previous administration the municipality was very lenient with errant government departments that did not pay for their services, resulting in escalation of the municipal debt.
The DA fully supported the council decision, he said.
Daily News