Drama, deals, disregard – how another 12,000 Nelson Mandela Bay ratepayers were denied a capital budget
In this second report in our series on wards in Nelson Mandela Bay receiving a zero capital budget, Ward 39 is a large residential area that includes suburbs and the peri-urban area of Theescombe. Some of its residents pay the highest rates in Nelson Mandela Bay, and yet its capital budget was reduced from R1.5m to nothing.
When Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Mayor Babalwa Lobishe joined the residents of Ward 39 at their integrated development plan meeting, she presented them with the 2024 budget instead of the 2025/6 budget.
In that 2024 budget, the ward had a capital budget of R1.5-million – but ward councillor Margaret de Andrade and her ward committee soon pointed out to Lobishe that she was presenting the wrong budget.
'I told her there is a zero under capital budget in the new budget,' De Andrade said. 'We received nothing but R100,000 for a humanitarian fund that is almost impossible to access.'
The R1.5-millon referred to by Lobishe had, in any event, already been spent on resurfacing part of a crucial road, adding traffic calming measures and fixing a busy sidewalk.
This is the second ward in the metro, with mostly ratepaying residents, whose budget has been cut to zero.
Ward 8, covering Lorraine, a densely populated area, also had its capital budget reduced to zero.
The Nelson Mandela Bay council was to meet for the third time on Thursday to try to pass the budget.
But according to a letter seen by Daily Maverick, even the National Treasury has become worried about the numbers – the metro's collection rate is at 73% and the budget is based on a collection rate of 76%. This means that there is a shortfall of R1.3-billion.
Grants totalling R900-million from the national government that could have been used for capital projects were returned unspent in the past two financial years. For the current financial year, the metro has only spent 38% of its R1.9-billion capital expenditure budget.
While the four wards that received zero capital budgets are wards with Democratic Alliance councillors, De Andrade, who sits on the budget and treasury subcommittee, said many ANC councillors were unhappy with the budgets for their wards.
'Hugely disrespectful'
De Andrade, who has been a councillor for 19 years, said she had not had to deal with a zero capital budget before. Water leaks, sewage spills and street lights can still, in theory, be fixed under operational budgets for the metro.
'I want a million rand,' she said. 'We have a track record of looking after a capital budget of a million rand. You can't give me zero.'
She said they had asked for specific evidence for this decision. She said over the medium term, the situation didn't look much better as the ward would receive only R500,000 for the next financial year.
'That is just stupid. I can tar maybe 500 metres with it.'
Below are the projects the ward presented to the municipality to be taken into account for the Integrated Development Plan and the budget:
Walker Drive needs to be resurfaced as it is riddled with potholes; Riverstone Road needs an upgrade and drainage; there needs to be a taxi rank constructed for Kragga Kamma; the railing of the low water bridge in the Kabega Road dip should be fixed.
Parts of the ward are in urgent need of high mast lights. A substation needs fencing.
Kragga Kamma Road, which carries around 5,000 vehicles a day, needs pedestrian walkways and cycle tracks to cut down on accidents. Walker Drive needs a stormwater upgrade, and several gravel roads in the peri-urban areas need tarring. Trees growing into powerlines have to be cut and old electrical infrastructure must be replaced.
The ward also has illegal cables running over busy Kragga Kamma Road that often set the area on fire. De Andrade also asked for this to be dealt with.
'I think our ratepayers accept that 80% of their rates go to other areas, but it is hugely disrespectful to give us no capital budget,' De Andrade said.
She said that after receiving advice from a city official, she managed to get R500,000 in unspent money to cut trees before the end of the financial year.
She said that as she had her meetings about the zero capital budget, acting city manager Ted Pillay had told her to agree to this budget so that 'they can get it through' as they needed the new electricity tariffs to be approved — they would then adjust the budget in August.
The electricity department projects a loss of R1.3-billion for the coming year and needs rates to ensure that it doesn't default on its payments to Eskom. In the current financial year, the municipality has already spent R600-million more on purchasing electricity than it received from sales to the public.
'But I said no,' De Andrade said. 'Councillors are delaying the approval of the budget because we want to see the capital budgets in print before we vote.'
Municipality's response
Municipal director of communications Sithembiso Soyaya said a mistake had been made in presenting the wrong budget to Ward 39 residents.
'During engagements in Ward 39, it was brought to the municipality's attention that the previous year's budget figures may have been presented during an initial consultation session. This matter is currently under internal review, within the relevant framework, and corrective measures will be implemented to ensure such administrative oversights do not recur.
'The concern has been noted and considered during the revision of the draft budget, and the updated, corrected figures should be reflected in the final 2025/26 budget being presented to Council on Thursday.
'The municipality remains committed to ensuring that communities receive accurate, up-to-date information in all budget consultation processes.
'On the response by the city manager, we wish to clarify the context and emphasise that any amendment to the municipal budget must follow a legally compliant process, as provided for in Section 28 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, which allows for a formal adjustment budget to be adopted by council under defined conditions.
'No informal or arbitrary changes can be made outside this regulated process. The municipality upholds these legislative requirements and remains committed to full compliance with the law.
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