The Sol Plaatje Taxpayers’ Union (Sopu) “can only hope” that the Sol Plaatje Municipality in Kimberley’s debt collection drive to collect outstanding debts from government departments and businesses is timely enough to save the municipality.
Last week, executive mayor Kagisho Sonyoni accompanied officials to, among others, the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature, Department of Education, Transport and Safety Liaison, Roads and Public Works and businesses such as the Savoy Hotel, Superstone and Van Zyl Vleis to disconnect their electricity supply.
Thoko Riet, municipal spokesperson, says “the reaction to our actions was positive and payments were received for reconnections. Payment arrangements have also been made to reduce the large sums owed. Government departments paid around R38 million, and businesses R18 million. We continue to reach settlement and payment agreements for overdue accounts.”
Tumelo Mosikare, project leader of Sopu, says he studied the latest available Section 71 monthly budget monitoring report (June 2022) to determine the municipality’s financial health.
“We hope that the revenue collection is not too late, given the high debt of the municipality, taking into account its operating costs. The salary bill is extremely high, and the municipality continues to advertise jobs while there are redundant positions. There are allegations that some employees were appointed without following proper processes.
He says the municipality’s average salaries and benefits bill for the year ending June 2022 stood at R64,9 million per month. The highest amount was in December 2021 at a cost of R83,1 million. The overtime cost was R43 million, but the budget was only R31 million. This is an overspending of 38,5%.
Mosikare says the question remains whether the overtime payment resulted in better service delivery.
“In June 2022, they owed R863 million to creditors, with Eskom at the top of the list with R656 million. The water bill was R166 million.
“The Department of Roads and Public Works gave R3,3 million for the Extended Public Works Program (EPWP), which the municipality supplemented with R6 million. They overspent R11,7 million and ended up with R21 million – double what was budgeted.
“Despite the debt collection campaign, people who paid their bills continued to subsidise those who didn’t. The R800 million that the government owes is subsidised by households. It is unclear how much has been collected, but the high operating costs lead me to suspect that any amount below R100 million may be too little, considering the municipality’s debt load. The outstanding accounts also incur interest.”
Mosikare says Thapelo Matlala, the new municipal manager, has his work cut out.
