In his State of the Municipality address on 29 June, the mayor of the Makhado Municipality declared his intention to freeze accounts for residents in the R293 townships surrounding Makhado (Louis Trichardt). The DA reacted in no uncertain terms and said that the freezing of accounts was not a decision for Council.

“As a way of encouraging our people to help us in developing their towns, we intend to freeze all accounts for all residents in R293 townships as a way of enabling them to start paying from the first of August 2013,” Mayor David Muthavatsindi said during his address in the Vuwani Town Hall. 

DA Cllr Brian du Plooy said last week that there was no such thing as freezing an account. “Nowhere in the National Treasury do we read about freezing accounts and there has been no resolution of Council to that effect. This is outrageous! People need to pay for services that had been delivered. The municipality needs the revenue in order to render services,” Du Plooy said. He added that in the case where residents of these towns might have been billed for services not received, an investigation must be done and their accounts must be amended. “Furthermore, everyone should be treated equally. If some residents’ accounts can be ‘frozen’, then other residents should be treated equally and also have their accounts frozen,” Du Plooy said. 

The DA also commented on other issues raised in the address. “During the 2012/13 financial year, we made several commitments to deliver basic services to our communities and we are proud to announce that we have met most of the obligations,” the mayor said in his budget speech. Du Plooy said that the DA wished to differ. “They have not ‘met most of the obligations’, since the municipality underspent R27 million of the municipal infrastructure grant (MIG) in that financial year, an amount which they were obliged to return,” Du Plooy said.

The mayor also announced the rehabilitation, refurbishing and tarring of streets in Eltivillas in the new financial year, the resealing of Krogh, Jeppe and Kruger Street in Makhado (Louis Trichardt), and access roads to villages, as well as the building of two community halls, one in Dzanani and one in Waterval. Though he appreciates the fact that community halls will be an asset, Du Plooy said that residents there might have benefited more from urgently needed infrastructure.

Concerning electricity, Du Plooy said that, fortunately, the monies had been allocated correctly in the new financial year, referring to the municipal project to bring electricity to about 24 villages and Eskom electrifying some 11 villages. Concerning the upgrading of substations in town, Du Plooy said that it would really take proficient planning and organization to find finance for the maintenance of the electrical structures in town with the current revenue that was being generated.

Du Plooy reiterated the mayor’s praise of the municipal manager. The DA wished to congratulate Mr Isaac Mutshinyali on the improvements that he had accomplished, especially in terms of reaction time. “The finance department is also attempting to get their systems in place. Good governance is achievable, but there is still a long way to go in terms of the rectification of former mistakes and improvement on the systems.  Good governance always needs to be improved and sustained,” Du Plooy said.