DA in eMalahleni lodges a grievance over Speaker, Mduduzi Nkosi, bullying tactics. In council meetings, Nkosi suppressed the DA from deliberating on serious issues that affect the residents of eMalahleni. Decisions taken by the council have a lasting impact on residents and the municipality. Therefore, we cannot continue with a speaker who fails to realise the importance of legislative oversight.
The DA in eMalahleni has lodged a grievance with the Municipal Manager, Humphrey Mayisela, over the speaker’s inappropriate behaviour towards the DA caucus. This comes after the Speaker, Mduduzi Nkosi, denied us an opportunity to object to an adjustment budget that was unfunded by R1 billion.
Prior to the meeting, we nominated one of our councillors to speak on this item. However, during the meeting, the speaker chose to snub the DA’s nominated speaker and proceeded without giving us a chance to raise our objection to the unfunded budget.
Notably, the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) requires that municipalities adopt funded budgets by ensuring that projected expenditure does not exceed anticipated income. In the case of eMalahleni, the municipality proposed an unrealistic collection rate of 75%, knowing very well that the municipality has not been able to reach 60% over the past couple of years.
Residents deserve to know that we object to this unfunded budget on the basis that it is unrealistic. eMalahleni is owed over R9 billion for services that were provided to residents over the past five years. If the municipality was able to collect this revenue, they could better the lives of residents, provide residents with a reliable water supply, electricity and housing opportunities.
However, eMalahleni chose to adopt an unrealistic budget with no clear plan of how the municipality will increase the revenue generation to 75%.
The current budget has not been modernised to address the challenges that residents are faced with. It’s even more concerning that the municipality is still battling with implementing effective debtors and creditors policies in order to achieve maximum revenue collection.
This unwarranted behavior of the ANC is a direct attack on the democratic processes and the rights of all parties to voice their concerns during council sittings. The DA will not be deterred, we will continue to stand firm in our commitment to ensure accountability, transparency, and proper governance in eMalahleni.
The DA reiterates that municipal councils are not a political battle arena. Important matters affecting the livelihoods of our residents and the state of our municipalities should be deliberated in a fair and honest manner.
With this in mind, we will await Manager Mayisela’s feedback. The DA will approach the MEC of CoGHSTA, Speedy Mashilo, to intervene if this matter is not addressed urgently.