An Admission of Failure

The Mayor of the Tshwane Metro Council, Dr Nasiphi Moya, and her coalition were very pleased to announce that they had tabled a funded budget for the first time in years.

The latest adjustments to the SDBIP (Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan) prove the opposite: The budget was unrealistic and the Metro has had to downwardly adjust Key Performance Areas (KPAs) because the original targets were not achieved.

Summary of downward KPA adjustments:

• Financial health: Reserves, liquidity ratios and collection rates have been lowered. The Metro overestimated its financial resilience and is unable to meet revenue targets.
• Utilities: Financial margins for electricity, water, sanitation and refuse have been adjusted downwards. While tariffs keep climbing, the Metro is delivering less.
• Housing and community services: Land acquisition for housing and refuse removal in informal settlements have been scaled back. This comes down to breaking promises made to residents.
• Organisational capacity: Within just six months, filling vacancies has been scaled back as well, meaning the administration cannot build capacity for important grass-roots posts.

These adjustments are an admission of failure: over-promising, under-delivering and now lowering standards to conceal the failures.

Residents pay more taxes and tariffs, while the Metro itself acknowledges that it cannot meet its original KPA targets.

This is a clear sign of the Mayor and her coalition’s poor governance. The so-called “funded budget” was an illusion with the downward adjustments serving as clear proof.

Yet another reason why voting for the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) is imperative.

Freedom Front Plus Cultural Events: The party organizes cultural events to celebrate Afrikaner heritage.

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