We do not support the budget because it is wrong

-       The budget presented is in no material way different ideologically from that of the previous budgets.  The DA can not fault the stated objectives of combatting poverty, unemployment and inequality. We applaud the increase in capital expenditure to be more in line with that proposed by our party in the past. Without the essential spend on infrastructure we can not hope to combat the many problems experienced by the residents of our Metro.

-       We must agree with the Mayor when he expresses concern on the failure of the past administration to actually spend the lower capital budgets. There is no point in budgeting and promising delivery and then inefficient departments hold the city and residents to ransom through failure to actually spend the budget.

-       It is the poor who suffer most from failed service delivery. It is the poor who rely most on the empty promises delivered in past budgets.

-       Thus we call on the current administration to wake up and realize that they have been in charge of the city budget and failed roll out of infrastructure for some time.

-       Thus I call on the Mayor to realize that when he says that a journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step that the residents are unhappy that since 1994 we are still by implication taking this single step.

-       The residents who are protesting are tired of the pretty words and promised numbers. The giant problem of the Giant stadium is an internal problem, probably as a direct result of the tolerated, through non action, against corruption. Where is the promised report on where the money went and who benefited?

-       The residents who are not paying for services want jobs so that they have the dignity to pay for what they consume. The residents who are not paying and have to rely on handouts demand this administration to stop promising employment but to start to actually create employment opportunities.

-       The residents who are forced to demand social protection want to be treated with dignity and not wait months to actually get registered on the indigents register or housing waiting lists. We must improve this administration and stop promising we will register 150000 people but actually do it quickly and efficiently. The residents who pay also demand that this takes place so that the burden on the city is contained within the limits of our policy. Failure to register quickly allows users to exceed these limits with no later recourse due to ineffective administration on the part of the city.

-       The residents who actually pay their accounts faithfully on average the 50% of account holder, to this administration do not want to hear the Mayor in last years and this years budget saying that we must look after them as they, in the words of the Mayor, “Subsidise the cost of our social investment program. The residents want to be looked after. Not more promises.

-       The residents who pay demand the right to be treated fairly and efficiently. It is not even a joke any more that people can not hold a straight face and hears the words Customer Relationships when it comes to a phone call to this city to report or query a problem.

-        The residents demand their constitutional right to public participation. That does not mean paying lip service to this concept. If you view the final budget document received by some councilors, not myself who did not receive it, last night in the late evening, you will note that firstly the inputs from the public were not taken into account when considering the few changes made to the budget. They were administrative driven changes. We do not even know what these inputs were as the written submissions are not even made available to us and the report says they will be made available today?

-       The residents demand that their public representatives study and consider their inputs and the mechanics of this budget. None of the part time councilors in this council can honestly put up their hands and say that between last night and this morning they have been able study and properly consider this budget. None have been afforded the opportunity to perform their duty to apply their minds to this very important document.

-       Why are the inputs from the public not provided to Councillor’s in time to consider i.t.o. Section 23 of the Municipal Finance Management Act? Why Are documents delivered so late? Why does the ANC not want to live by the principles and intentions of the Constitution to create a participatory democracy? What is being hidden from the public?

-       The paying residents welcome the additional police vehicles and police officers.  Yet they are tired of being promised 10 metro officers in every ward for the last 3 years now. Even after the purchases budgeted for and the new police officers, we will still not have enough vehicles or officers to be able to deliver on this empty promise.

-       The residents demand that their metro police be properly skilled. We are dismayed by the continued lowering of standards to fill positions and create jobs for the sake of job creation. We demand these officers to be properly trained and qualified.

-       The budget fails to show us how we are going to improve on the poor debt collection in this city. Still no meaningful change to Customer service or in house debt collection is budgeted for. We must capacitate this vital area to ensure that all who must pay actually pay for their services. We are supportive of the pre-paid electricity plan and look forward to this being rolled out to entire city. I myself have already installed a prepaid meter and believe that this will greatly assist in managing our debtors going forward.

-       What happened to the 4% built into the electricity increases since 2009 which was meant to fund the upgrading of infrastructure? The money was spent on other things.

-       Our current budget can repair roads once in every 60 years or so and less than 50% of our roads are at an acceptable level?

-       Why have we budgeted for 5 times the residential tariff for Non permitted use when a recent court case said that this practice was non compliant with the Municipal Property Rates Act?

-       How can the ANC justify an almost 17% increase to the already high salary of the Municipal Manager?

-       The greatest failure of this budget is the failure to consider the guidelines of National Treasury or the parameters of the Municipal Property Rates Act.

-       The Act calls on the City to consider the ability of the community to pay for services received. Many submissions were submitted that the proposed tariffs are unaffordable. The City must consider the impact of inflation and other cost increases.

-       You do not need to be an economist to understand that we are in a very difficult financial period in the world and in this city. People are not able to afford Electricity, Water, Food, School fees and e-tolls and taxes.

-       Tariffs raised by the city affect the rich and poor and cross race boundaries.

-       We have a municipal cost index of 8.9% yet we are no where close to this in our proposed increases to residents. How did the city listen to these inputs during public participation process? NO we gave increase of 35% above this and almost 97% higher than Consumer Price Index. Most income earners will not receive increases any where close to this. That is unless you work in a senior position in this city of course. Perhaps that’s why the Mayor does not bother responding to the overwhelming number of complaints about the increase in a convincing manner?

-       It did not. The average of 12% is too much and the 25% for Waste is unacceptable due to the poor performance of this department and the reliance in the past on the Alternate Service Delivery program. We were always against this and now we have to pay for the problems created by outsourcing this vital service.

-       The residents rich and poor can not afford this budget .

-       If a household/ business can’t afford something the household or business must cut costs. The residents of this City can not afford the tariff increases but we do need the extended investment in infrastructure. Thus we have to balance the budget by means of cutting operational expenses. Cut the cloth to suit the budget. In this case the budget must be cut to suit the budget of the residents who pay.

-       We will prepare our own budget for the city which will ensure that capital expenditure is in place. We will ensure that promises of Title deed delivery becomes a reality and not just as in the past failed promises.

-       WE will deliver formal settlements around the city specifically to plot 1276 and 176 residents. We will deliver a solution to the congestion on the R80 faced by thousands f residents who travel from Soshanguve to Pretoria daily.

-       We will listen to residents and give them a budget which will be more affordable. This 12% increase comes on the back of high increases in the past and our City remains one of the most expensive cities to live in  in South Africa. One which does not even deliver a quid quo pro of good service or service delivery to the majority of residents.

-       The quotation by the Mayor of Karl Marx lamenting on Philosopher’s been stuck in reflection and contemplation in stead of taking action is very apt. This City has been stuck in reflection, contemplation and promises for a very long time. It is time to prepare a budget for the people and deliver for the people. Isn’t that what our Constitution demands from local government?

-       In short we do not support this budget as it is wrong. We do not support this budget as it is impractical. We do not support this budget as it is unrealistic and we do not support this budget as it is not a budget for the people but a budget for the Administration and the ego of the ANC.