Political parties react to eThekwini Municipality's R131 Million budget adjustment

The mid-term budget adjustment for the eThekwini Municipality was met with mixed reactions from political parties at its full council meeting on Friday

The mid term budget focused on electricity, sanitation and Cleansing and Solid Waste (CSW). The adjustment outlines an overall increase of R131 million raising the total budget from R3.29 billion to R3.43 billion. The chairperson of the trading services cluster and IFP Councillor Mdu Nkosi said this adjustment ensures alignment with key strategic priorities and responds to emerging service delivery needs.  

For the water department the budget was reduced by R162.8 million (final: R1.31 billion) due to reprioritization of funds, ensuring efficiency in resource allocation. While for the sanitation department the budget was increased by R378.8 million (final: R1.15 billion) to accelerate essential projects for e.g:

• Metering
• The Umlazi Trunk Sewer
• Borehole Installations
• Alternative Sanitation
• Wastewater Treatment Expansion

For the CSW, the budget was reduced by R66.9 million (final: R301.8 million) due to work stoppages at the Shongweni Landfill, impacting planned waste management projects.

With regard to the electricity unit the budget was reduced by R17.9 million (final: R661.4 million), reflecting the deferral of the Mariannridge Substation allocation to 2025/26. However, R7.5 million was allocated for a developer deposit at Giba to support infrastructure expansion

The total adjusted capital budget for 2024/2025 is R7 688 246 000.  The total adjusted budget is over R67 billion. 

Democratic Alliance (DA) Caucus Chief Whip Yogis Govender said the budget fell short in several critical areas and failed to provide a sustainable path forward. Govender said the reliance on overtime, the mismanagement of resources, the uncollected debt, and the constant reprioritization of funds are clear indicators of a flawed budget. 

National Freedom Party (NFP) councillor and eThekwini Deputy Mayor Zandile Myeni said the adjustment budget responds to service delivery challenges the city is facing. Myeni said a substantial amount of this budget has been allocated to resolve water and electricity issues. 

Myeni said an operating budget of over R400 million has been allocated and set aside to address the ongoing challenges of non-revenue water, including fixing water leaks. She said a further R450 million has been allocated to respond to electricity faults.  Over R146 million of capital budget has been allocated across various units within the municipality to accelerate service delivery, particularly on water and electricity provision.   

“As the leadership of the city, we will continue to monitor this budget closely to ensure that there is value for money in all projects that will be implemented,” Myeni said. 

Chairperson of the eThekwini Governance Committee, ANC councillor Nkosenhle Madlala, said that the budget ensures the municipality remains responsive to service delivery needs while adapting to financial constraints. He said since COVID-19, social service clusters have faced repeated budget cuts and have relied on adjustments to fund essential needs, such as maintaining public pools and other community services.

“The decline in electricity revenue is another challenge, driven by load shedding and the increasing shift to alternative energy sources. Despite these financial pressures, the City previously reduced electricity tariffs to provide relief to residents and businesses. The adjustment budget is a necessary tool to address these financial realities, ensuring that essential services continue, critical infrastructure is maintained, and key programmes are sustained despite fiscal constraints,” Madlala said. 

Democratic Liberal Congress Leader (DLC) Leader Patrick Pillay said that the adjustment budget is done in terms of realigning the main budget in respect of the current situation and emergencies of service delivery of water and electricity outages as some examples. Pillay said the budget seeks to improve service delivery within suburbs. 

“I supported the adjustment budget because it addressed critical services that were lacking in the main budget. Issues addressed in the adjustment budget also speaks to the many concerns raised by the Auditor General this year,” said Pillay. 

ActionSA caucus whip councillor Musa Kubheka said they have concerns regarding adjustments made regarding the water unit. 

“We raised issues about money taken away from water on budget. We cannot support the adjustment budget because there is a water crisis especially in Tongaat, Umlazi and iNanda areas. ActionSA feels that some of these adjustments will not resolve some of the serious issues we are facing, especially the water crisis if the adjustment is not addressed," he said.  

Freedom Front Plus councillor, Henricus Van Der Ryst, said the R23 million for consultation fees for the Revenue Management System and a R377 million reduction in the public transport network grant is a concern.

"Fix these systems and you will fix many other issues. We cannot cut from the water budget, as we have a water crisis. We need to prioritise issues. The electricity revenue is in a crisis and it needs critical attention and not budget cuts. Close on the heels of overtime at R200 million, while we have unfilled vacancies and contractor maintenance and litigation,” he said.

EFF commissar Vukani Ndlovu hoped the allocated budget would intervene in infrastructure projects and other critical matters. He rejected the notion of hiring water tankers and money spent on overtime salaries. Ndlovu said many of the youth were unemployed and they should be employed to fill vacant positions. 

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za