DA rejects ANC bullying in approving an adjustment budget

Issued by Janis Holmes – DA Umngeni Caucus Leader
02 Mar 2020 in Press Statements

The ANC in UMngeni has approved the 2019/ 2020 adjustments budget without even reading it first! At the sitting of Full Council of uMngeni on Friday, the ANC voted to approve an adjustment budget that was “tabled” at the meeting without even opening the document.

The DA opposed approving this important document without reading it first and pointed out that legislation requires that Council “must consider the full implications, financial or otherwise, of the adjustments budget and supporting documentation” before approving the adjustments budget. We also pointed out that even though the adjustments budget was tabled at the last minute (28 February is the deadline) we could still use options open to us within the legislation to defer the approval so that Councillors could apply their minds and give the document due diligence.

The document was also tabled at an Executive Committee meeting earlier in the week but was whisked away before the end of the meeting with no explanation. Repeated requests to Municipal Manager, Ms Thembeka Cibane, by the DA for the document to be emailed to all Councillors before the Council meeting were ignored. To add insult to injury the document contains tables with such small font that they cannot be read.

Even after only a brief review, the DA has huge concerns with the content of the adjustment budget, particularly with regards to contracted services being increased by R11,4 million. R9 million of this will be for an increase for security services, this will take the 2019/20 budget for security from R9,6 million to R18,6 million! A huge and unacceptable increase considering the security budget in 2015/16 was R3,6 million. No doubt already dismal service delivery and repairs and maintenance in uMngeni will be further compromised by this shifting of funds.

It is shameful that the governing party in uMngeni treats Council meetings as a tick box exercise, allowing important decisions to be taken at the last possible minute with no deliberation or debate. Non-compliance with legislation is a serious offence and the DA in uMngeni will be taking the ANC caucus to task for their blatant disregard of municipal finance regulations.