(Photo: @CityTshwane/Twitter)
The Tshwane metro failed to approve its clean-up budget on Friday and this increases the risk for the metro to be placed under administration.
Only 107 councilors voted in favor of the clean-up budget – 108 votes were needed to approve it.
The Gauteng provincial government has meanwhile expressed its concern about the development. Mzi Khumalo, Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs, said he noted with concern the metro’s failure to get the clean-up budget accepted despite being given a chance by Jacob Mamabolo, MEC for Finance in the province, until today. was given to do so.
“This failure by the metro council to fulfill its statutory obligations poses a clear and present danger to the residents of Tshwane as the provision of basic services to residents may be adversely affected.”
According to Khumalo, he will enter into discussions with Mamabolo to determine the most suitable course of action within the scope of the Constitution and other applicable legislation that the province can take to remedy the situation.
Khumalo emphasized that the provincial government is “very disappointed with this development as the residents will now finally be on the receiving end of the metro’s failure”.
Cilliers Brink, mayor of the Tshwane metro, said earlier that there are deliberate efforts to create conditions for the Tshwane metro to be placed under administration.
The Tshwane metro council also failed to approve the clean-up budget on Thursday.
“If these two budget items are not approved by the council today, it will create the pretext for the Gauteng provincial government to intervene in the Tshwane metro. I am convinced that, as in the past, such ‘intervention’ will serve an ulterior political purpose and be disastrous for service delivery and financial management in the capital.”
For the greater part of February and March, the Tshwane metro effectively did not have an executive mayor and mayors’ committee, and therefore the deadlines for the approval of the clean-up budget and the tabling of a draft budget for the next financial year were missed.
City manager Johann Mettler consulted the Gauteng and national treasury about an extended timeline, and both agreed to give the metro a chance until today.
