ISSUE 219 - FREE
12 APRIL 2019
COMMUNITY NEWS. ORIGINAL - ACCURATE - FIRST
017 631 1903 / 017 631 1845 • admin@thebulletin.co.za • 1 Kiewiet Street, Secunda (Lake Umuzi)
The AmaGorilla Community Forum was at Evander Magistrates Court on Monday, 8 April. The forum was protesting for the release of 46 of their members that were arrested. Read the full story on pages 3 and 7.
Govan Mbeki Municipality Strategic Session at Badplaas Govan Mbeki Municipality will be holding a Strategic Planning session at Badplaas from 10 to 12 April. The Bulletin is in possession of a copy of the official letter inviting participants to this Badplaas session. The Municipality is currently in a very poor financial position and can ill afford to travel to resorts such as Badplaas Forever resort. In the 2018/2019 Mid-year Budget and Financial performance assessment report the following is written: “The municipality’s debtors book had a total balance of R1,470,013,000 as at end of December 2018. Collection still remains a challenge as indicated by the huge amounts of old outstanding debtors. The total creditors balance amounted to R1,471,275,000 as at end of December 2018, and the noncollection of debtors above makes it difficult for the municipality to pay debts when they become due, with major creditors being Eskom and Rand Water.”
The implications are highlighted in the agenda item A005/01/2019 as follows: “As a result of the financial performance it is necessary for the municipality to adjust the approved 2018/2019 budget. It will be a challenge to adjust the budget upwards due to the municipality’s financial position and thus the budget will be adjusted downwards, which will impact service delivery.” And “With the municipality’s current financial position, it might not be possible to meet all contractual obligations, which may result in litigation against the municipality.” As well as: “The filling of vacancies should be re-prioritized as the institution might not able to pay the salaries as they become due.” The council also resolved as follows: “That the approved 2018/2019 Budget BE ADJUSTED downwards and funds be shifted between votes to fund prioritized projects and to pay creditors.” (not complete resolution)
DA Cllr ZA Mkwebane wanted to know “Where does the money come from? They should stay here in GMM and spend the money on service delivery.” A total of 52 officials and political leadership are expected to attend the session. On a previous occasion when this was objected to by the opposition parties, the (then) mayor justified the visit to Badplaas by saying “we want to support our neighbouring towns”. Some of the personnel included are a service delivery clerk and the secretaries to the Mayor and Municipal Manager. It is unclear who will be paying for this session as the budget does not allow for expenditures of this kind. The Bulletin contacted the Municipality’s spokesperson and received the following response: The Govan Mbeki Municipality will
be holding a three-day strategic and planning session this week in Badplaas. The purpose of the session plan is to conduct an organisational and business review of the municipality with the aim of enhancing service delivery to community. It is important for the municipality to plan while, at the same time, reporting on progress and implementation of the resolutions that were taken during the previous strategic planning sessions. “We will use this opportunity to come up with a comprehensive action plan that will improve the lives of the people out there.” Said Mr Benzi Soko (Chief of Staff) in the response from the Marketing and Communications Department, “We need to know exactly where we stand, determine where we want to go and how we will get there.”