The Democratic Alliance (DA) is deeply concerned about the financial collapse in the City of Mogale due to weak governance by the ANC-led coalition, resulting in service delivery failures.
Mogale’s financial surplus dropped from R343 million to R70 million in the last financial year. This is a direct result of the ANC’s poor financial management, weak budgeting decisions and possible overspending/misallocation of funds by the municipality.
This financial issue is bleeding into service delivery as electricity losses now total R211 million over the last eight months, clearly indicating revenue collection failures, infrastructure inefficiency, theft or billing problems.
Moreover, there have been ongoing water leaks amounting to millions of rands in costs. This infrastructure failure is jeopardizing the water security of residents and impairing their daily lives.
Instead of attending to these urgent issues within the municipality the administration is rather funding non-essentials such as spending R400 000 for a paper shredder whilst maintenance is underfunded.
Ultimately, residents are expected to foot the bill for constant failures when their rates are increased.
The truth is that only the DA in government will ensure good governance, reliable leadership and effective financial management. We’ve turned Mogale’s finances around before, and we will do it again.