In his response to the address, Clr Izak Berg, national chairperson of the Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA) points out the good, the positives, the negatives, and the shame from the address.
He highlights positives as being a better standard of life for residents of Ekurhuleni and an increase in the number of ratepayers who contribute to the coffers of the city, enabling an increase in the city’s budget in catering for the poor.
“The reserves and cash flow of the metro is very healthy if not the healthiest of all municipalities and metros in South Africa.
“Ekurhuleni is very fortunate that we can borrow monies in assisting the metro in budgeting for capital projects in the formerly disadvantaged areas, because the interest rate is much lower today than before 1994,” says Berg.
He mentions that the GDP growth has produced an influx of people coming into the city, but this then puts strain on the current ratepayers and service delivery.
“Residents have been given running water and proper ablution facilities while free electricity has been given to the poorest of the poor residents, both black and white,” adds Berg.
Berg lauded the metro for experiencing the least service delivery protests of any metro in South Africa, which is also an indication that Ekurhuleni is successful in delivering basic services to its residents.
This, however, does not negate the fact that the quality of service delivery remains poor.
“The number of employees in the metro has increased by 22 per cent since 2000, but the quality of service delivery has not increased by the same percentage. Ratepayers are paying for quality service delivery and they are entitled to it.
“The metro has levied an area cleansing levy since July 2013, collecting close to R4-million per month, which can create close to 2 000 informal jobs and improve the cleanness of the city, but this programme has yet to be implemented although the charges are levied,” he adds.
In shifting the focus to the negatives, Berg says the current account deficit is up since 1994, and a dollar now costs twice as much as before 1994, which is putting strain on the metro budget to import goods that are needed for service delivery.
“Private businesses investment as a proportion of total investment has dropped from more than 70 per cent to less than 65 per cent, so the metro needs to relook their contribution charges regarding new developments in making sure that businesses relocate to the metro,” he says.
Berg says fraud and corruption is still not under control in the metro and it takes too long to bring culprits to book if at all.
“The metro gives the impression that it is not serious about fighting fraud and corruption.
“Investigations conducted by the Internal Audit Department of the metro are taking too long to complete, resulting in the metro losing millions through fraud and corruption,” he points out.
“The positive side on most of the negatives or shortcomings is that it can be rectified in a relative short time.”
