TSHWANE RESIDENTS DESERVE BETTER VALUE FOR THEIR MONEY

By Alderman Gert Pretorius

Surely hard earned funds generated by Tshwane residents should be used for their benefit before being generated elsewhere. After all, charity begins at home!

In particular, I refer to the sum of R95m which is going to be used to provide a main water pipeline from Rand Water to Madibeng – a town situated in the North West province. Also, a further R5m for a consultant to do the planning.

I do not believe that Tshwane Municipality is responsible for Rand Water or Madibeng. Tshwane ratepayer’s money can be better spent serving our own needs. In effect, we must lend money to finance other bodies. Is the Tshwane Metro now taking over the functions of the National Government and this with an outstanding overdraft of its own? Do we realize what we can do with R100m (2000 houses @ R50,000 each ; 500 vehicles @ R200,000 each or pro-vide jobs for 1000 people for a year @ more than R8000 per person per month).

The subsidising of Madibeng goes back a long way. In a report tabled at the portfolio committee meeting on 14 September 2010, it was reported that: “Since July 2006 Sandspruit Water has experienced difficulty in retrieving payment from Madibeng....the situation has escalated to a level where Sandspruit Water cannot afford to pay service providers any more....the residents of Tshwane are affected/influenced”. Madibeng currently owes Tshwane an amount of R15.18m for bulk water and R63.65 for operations. This brings the total that Madibeng owes Tshwane to R78.83m. Of interest here, is the fact that for the 2009/2010 budget, Sandspruit Water budgeted for a deficit of R68.75m on retail water, including bad debt or shall I say, Madibeng’s R78m!

The Tshwane Metro Council needs to manage our taxpayer’s money in a responsible way and with great care. We are not the Big Brother that can stand in for other municipalities like Madibeng in North West and service providers like Rand Water. Where is the National Government of the day – why can’t it be responsible to alleviate or solve such problems?