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IOL News
09-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
eThekwini Municipality budget consultations: IFP demands policy reforms for residents
Dr Jonathan Annipen, an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) councillor in eThekwini, has submitted a plethora of demands to the municipality revenue department's policy developers, calling for unprecedented policy reforms. Image: Leon Lestrade / Independent Newspapers While the eThekwini Municipality leaders crisscross the wards for the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) consultations, a local councillor is calling for policy reforms before the budget is passed. Dr Jonathan Annipen, an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) councillor in eThekwini, has submitted a plethora of demands to the municipality revenue department's policy developers, calling for unprecedented policy reforms. These policies could be voted on with the budget at the next council meeting later this month. The deadline for residents, businesses, and stakeholders to submit their inputs into the Draft Budget and IDP, R64.2 billion operating budget, and R7.1 billion capital budget for the 2025/26 financial year is May 17, 2025. Annipen said residents will only be able to cope with the proposed tariff increases as spelt out in the 2025/26 budget if major changes are made to the city's budget-related policies. 'Central among them are the indigent support application and the credit control and debt recovery policies,' he said. Annipen said the city's social package in its current form simply exists to meet a legislative requirement and, by doing so, ticks the budgetary requirements set out by the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA) and the National Treasury. 'These policies do not speak to the growing needs of the residents of eThekwini. Needless to say, substantial amendments need to be made to ensure these policies are adaptable to the people of the city in the context of some of the socio-economic challenges faced by our people,' he said. According to Annipen, residents are struggling to meet their financial commitments to the municipality, forcing them to live without basic services, such as water and electricity, or resort to illegal measures like tampering with the city's infrastructure to bypass their electricity and water metering systems. He stated that the proposals made by the IFP are practical and add significant value to the otherwise opaque, ambiguous, and outdated policies enforced by the municipality. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading Annipen said this also strengthens the existing policy framework articulated in the existing standard operating procedures and terms of reference of eThekwini's budget-related policies, but primarily seeks to reduce some of the causes of unauthorised, irregular, wasteful, and fruitless expenditure while reducing debtors' book by unparalleled markers. He added that ultimately, the amendments they are suggesting will reduce the capital amounts written off by the city, dispose of historic debt, and secure a far higher revenue collection proportion than what is presently being illustrated by the city. 'Our recommendations have been formulated through personal interactions with residents and first-hand experiences lived out by the ordinary people of eThekwini. We call on residents, lobby groups, ratepayer bodies, and other civic society agencies to join us in this fight for policy change in order to provide relief to the marginalised masses within this metro.'
IOL News
07-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Frustrated Chatsworth residents voice concerns over proposed budget and water crisis
The draft budget for the 2025/26 financial year stands at R71.3 billion, comprising a capital budget of R7.1 billion and an operating budget of R64.2 billion. They staged a peaceful protest against the proposed budget and Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and threatened to boycott their utility payments if the issues affecting them - more especially the water crisis – was not resolved. Xaba's budget consultation meeting, at the Nelson Mandela Youth Centre, this afternoon, was met with a protest against the tariff increases by frustrated residents . FRUSTRATED residents in Chatsworth, earlier today protested against the proposed tariff increases during Mayor Cyril Xaba's budget consultation, highlighting the ongoing water issues and the need for better service delivery. Xaba said that the budget reflected the municipality's continued commitment to inclusive development, service delivery and infrastructure renewal in all communities. But residents, businesses and stakeholders of Chatsworth and surrounding areas, including Mariannhill, Shallcross, Savannah Park, Malvern, Montclair, Bellair, Bluff, Merebank and Jacobs, expressed their strong dissatisfaction with the proposed budget. They said the ongoing water cuts was exacerbating the problem. Selvan Moodley, of south Durban, the water issues had left them frustrated and the proposed increases was not acceptable. 'The city cannot expect people to pay for services they do not receive. How can they implement increases with the lack or absence of service delivery?' he asked. Chatsworth resident, Raeesa Hoosen, told Xaba the elderly and those who were sickly, were suffering the most with the constant water cuts. 'We do not have water. Yes, there are water tankers, but most people in the area I live in are old and cannot fetch water from the tankers. What happens to them? People are sick and they too cannot access the water that they need from the tankers. We need a better solution,' she said. Another resident from Montclair, Kurshida Kaja, appealed to Xaba to take low income families and those who relied on grants into consideration when budgeting and implementing the increases. 'People are already struggling. We need proper considerations before the increases are implemented. The ordinary citizens cannot afford to pay any more than they already are paying,' Kaja added. The deadline for residents, businesses and stakeholders to submit their inputs into the draft budget and IDP for the 2025/26 financial year is May 17. THE POST
IOL News
23-04-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Ratepayers express concerns over eThekwini's double-digit tariff hikes
eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association (ERRA) chairperson Ish Prahladh said the people cannot accept double-digit tariff increases. Image: Supplied Ratepayers in the eThekwini Municipality have voiced their concern over double-digit increases in tariffs and how their money is spent in the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) budgets for 2025 and 2026. The City's 2025/26 draft IDP/Budget consultations themed, Infrastructure Building and Service Delivery Budget, began with the business sector and ratepayers associations on Tuesday. The engagements will conclude on 14 May and after considering all inputs, the draft IDP/Budget will be adopted on 22 May. The R71.3 billion draft budget comprises an operating budget of R64.2 billion and a capital budget of R7.1 billion. The IDP is the key strategy that guides development and service delivery in the City. The plan gives an indication of the goals and initiatives the municipality will focus on over the next five years. eThekwini Mayor, councillor Cyril Xaba, said that the consultations are critical to ensure that residents own their municipality. 'This is your city. We take all inputs very seriously. You have the ability to shape the future of eThekwini.' Some of the major highlights of the draft 2025/26 draft budget are significant amounts being allocated to take care of essential services. About R859 million has been allocated for electricity and this will fund the ongoing extension and reinforcement of existing electricity networks, as well as 17 new substations that are being commissioned. The capital budget for water is R1.15 billion and will be spent mainly on the water loss intervention programme and the replacement of water pipes. Proposed tariff increases for electricity are 12.72%, water 15% for domestic customers and 16% for business. Sanitation is 13% for domestic and 14% for business, refuse removal is 9.9% for domestic and 9% for business. For property rates, the proposed tariff increase is 6.5%. eThekwini Ratepayers Protest Movement (ERPM) chairperson Asad Gaffar said there is a definite sense that mayor Xaba is a much stronger leader than what the city had previously been subjected to. Gaffar said that Xaba has inherited a trust deficit that will be difficult to conquer. Gaffar said the new budget is hitting the ratepayers for an additional R6 billion at a time when service delivery is at an all time low. 'Extended water and electricity outages have left the ratepayers of our city beyond frustrated. Many of our ratepayers have left this city because it's failed them. There are critical projects not yet funded and yet there are parties and music events peppered into the budget to the tune of over R30 million,' Gaffar said. Gaffar said that the tariff increases are beyond the household budgets and people are going to be defaulting on their bills. "With the current tariffs, people are working to pay the municipality. They have no disposable income for property maintenance, school uniforms, car services, tyres, etc. We are slaves to our municipal bills. It's not sustainable,' Gaffar said. Gaffar said the city administration must prove that it is spending ratepayers money for its purpose and start delivering on its core mandates. Gaffar said that the city should prove that it can operate last year's budget without any fruitless and wasteful expenditure before they come to ratepayers demanding more. 'Our rates should be dropped. We pay more than anywhere else in the country on property rates and have to live with polluted rivers, potholed roads, ornamental street lights, broken pavements, overgrown verges, dry taps, power failures, dysfunctional call centres and agents. The list goes on,' Gaffar said. eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association (ERRA) chairperson Ish Prahladh said the people cannot accept double-digit increases considering the high unemployment rate in the communities. Prahladh urged the municipality to look at other ways to get revenue beside tariff increases. Prahladh was concerned about the housing crises, the budgets allocated to them and the growing number of informal settlements in eThekwini. 'Not a single house has been built to clear out the shacks from our community. I do not see the budget going anywhere. The entrance to Reservoirs Hills, one of the ratepaying contributors, is in a deplorable state. The place has become a dump. The ratepayers are paying to clean up the area around informal settlements. There is a water pipe exposed from 2022,' Prahladh said.
IOL News
23-04-2025
- Business
- IOL News
eThekwini unveils R71.3bn 'construction site' vision in new municipal budget
The eThekwini Municipality 2025/26 draft budget is expected to prioritise infrastructure development, job creation and social upliftment. The eThekwini Municipality draft budget for 2025/26, dubbed 'building and service delivery budget', is expected to prioritise infrastructure development, job creation, and social upliftment. The total proposed budget for 2025/2026 is R71.3 billion (including entities), which includes an operating budget of R64.2 billion and a capital budget of R7.1 billion. At a council meeting on Monday, Mayor Cyril Xaba said he would like to turn eThekwini into a construction site. Xaba said the budget also reflects inclusive growth and economic resilience, and described the budget process as 'difficult to balance', considering the current challenging economic climate. He said it also focused on expanding public transport networks, support for small businesses, and decent human settlements. Recent floods have caused extensive damage to electricity, water, and sanitation infrastructure. Rapid urbanisation continues to place new demands on infrastructure, he added. 'One of the key national policy developments that will impact this budget is the National Treasury's Trading Services Reform, which seeks to enhance the financial sustainability of our utilities such as water and sanitation, and electricity.' As part of this reform, municipalities must improve cost recovery mechanisms, reduce inefficiencies, and ensure that tariffs reflect the true cost of service provision while remaining affordable to vulnerable communities. eThekwini could receive R3.3 billion for reforms in the 2025/2026 Medium-Term Revenue and Expenditure Framework (MTREF). Capital budget Electricity: R859 million Water: R1.15 billion Sanitation: R550 million Cleansing and Solid Waste: R375 million Engineering Services: R482 million Human Settlements: R749 million Community and Emergency Services: R590 million eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA): R747 million Operating budget Electricity: R23.3 billion Water: R9.98 billion Sanitation: R2.4 billion Cleansing and Solid Waste: R2.4 billion Engineering Services: R2.67 billion Human Settlements: R971.8 million Community and Emergency Services: R7.18 billion eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA): R1.63 billion Democratic Liberal Congress (DLC) Leader Patrick Pillay said he did not support tariff increases that would bring about greater hardship for residents. Pillay said people's voices must be heard, and this process will allow the public to actively participate in determining the budget outcomes. He added that the multibillion-rand draft budget had very critical capital projects in terms of water and electricity infrastructure rehabilitation as well as an operational budget for repairs, cleaning, and maintenance. 'This is critical to enhance service delivery. The public participation process must be meaningful and constructive. We also lambasted the huge unfunded mandate costs of R1.2 billion, the high water loss of 56%, and the owing government debt to the city,' said Pillay. ActionSA KZN Provincial Chairperson Zwakele Mncwango said the draft budget had a blatant disregard for its residents by pushing forward exorbitant tariff increases that will further burden struggling households and businesses. 'While we aim to prioritise residents, other political parties and the eThekwini Metro continues on its destructive path of financial mismanagement and wasteful spending. This municipality has a notorious history of writing off unauthorised, irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure,' Mncwango said. Democratic Alliance (DA) Councillor Andre Beetge said one cannot lose sight that the core inflation rate is presently 3.5%, with headline inflation projected to average around 4.5%. 'We also hear that Nersa will be enforcing an electricity increase of 12.74% and Umgeni will burden the city with an increase of 13.5% against water, but why should the already overburdened ratepayers of this city be expected to foot the bill for the failure of national and state-owned entities to properly manage their institutions?' Beetge said the city is losing 56% of its water, through non-revenue water. 'Taps are running freely as there are no measures to monitor or control non-revenue water, yet we are again expecting, through these increases, for those who contribute to the fiscus to bridge these losses?' he said. 'Whether you listen to the Auditor-General, Public Protector, or Presidential Working Group, all are in agreement that the city is broken, that we need to cut away the fat, we must forego luxuries, eliminate exercises like expensive mayoral breakaways in the Drakensberg, we must plan to save to fix,' Beetge said. [email protected]
