Property owners will urgently consider immediate withholding of taxes from the Makhado Municipality if the council goes ahead with plans to once again squander their hard-earned tax money on yet another totally unnecessary Chinese excursion for two senior officials.

The Makhado Municipal Council can no longer be considered as a responsible, functional entity. These views are expressed in a media release issued by the chairman of TAU SA North, Mr Dries Joubert. He says taxpayers are heartily sick and tired of seeing officials making fruitless, expensive visits overseas, while local service delivery lags behind.

He indicated that Council’s decision to sponsor an all-expenses-paid visit by the mayor of Makhado, together with the Makhado municipal manager to China, borders on criminal irresponsibility in a municipality where basic infrastructure is collapsing due to a "lack of money".

"This extravagant joyride at the taxpayers’ expense is authorised by Council, regardless of an observation by the director of community services that the Chinese colour steel factory project has become a white elephant with the disappearance of the investors over the past three to four years," Joubert said. He said it was very unfortunate that the Chinese owners have not made any effort since then to indicate their interest in the project.

At the time, after several expensive visits to China by the then mayor and his selected entourage, the coloured-steel factory was announced during a high-level extravaganza also attended by the then MEC for local government and housing. (The municipality’s public unveiling of the proposed new name for the town coincided with the foundation-stone-laying ceremony for the proposed first of several Chinese factories in an envisaged industrial complex in which family of the then mayor had an interest.)

That was the beginning and the apparent end of a project which irate officials at the time vociferously defended against media criticism by stating that it would generate investments of millions of rand and would create numerous jobs for local people. In spite of the loud official promises and arrogant attitudes, nothing happened.

"Whilst the water supply and sewage infrastructure of the town in the meantime deteriorated further into a near unimaginable disaster situation, with no immediate solution in sight, Council has the audacity, the time and the money to waste on the consideration of yet another extravagant Chinese excursion at the expense of taxpayers desperately clamouring for sustained basic services," remarked one observer. In the midst of ample water supplies, residents of Makhado (Louis Trichardt) are subjected to a three-year-long total restriction on the usage of municipal water for their gardens, due to the municipality’s failure to maintain infrastructure.

Joubert expressed concern over Council’s totally irresponsible, unprofessional and chaotic actions. He referred to the latest chaotic 42nd special Makhado Municipal Council’s meeting which started late as usual and totally deviated from the published agenda.

Joubert says the obvious in-fighting amongst councillors, the unbelievably pathetic fumblings of a highly paid Speaker who obviously did not prepare for the meeting, and the unprofessional presentation of the official Council agenda is symptomatic of the total inability of Council to honour its official commitments in an acceptable way.

"It is virtually impossible to consider the Makhado Municipal Council as a responsible, functional entity any longer," he said.

Joubert said the agricultural community will definitely consider withholding taxes if the planned Chinese visit goes ahead.

"We can no longer tolerate these extravagant overseas excursions which bear no fruit. The creation of structures which honour the country’s constitution must be supported to avoid and turn around a total collapse into a Somalia and Zimbabwean-style anarchy," Joubert said.