The mayor of the Musina Local Municipality, Cllr Caroline Mahasela, announced a R96, 9 million budget for the 2008/9 financial year on Friday night (13 June).

In her speech, during a colorful ceremony at the Musina Show Grounds, Mahasela said the budget followed a 10-month-long, rigorous consultative process that saw the total participation of all key stakeholders and communities in the planning and implementation of the municipality’s developmental programmes.

"We continue to set trends in ensuring meaningful participation of our communities and stakeholders in the planning and implementation of our developmental programmes," she said. Mahasela added that the budget estimate was done in line with the local authority’s integrated development plan (IDP), which remains the cornerstone of every developmental and people-friendly budget, a critical tool for effective governance and proper planning.

Projects

In highlighting some of the projects that the municipality had jointly identified with the stakeholders for the new financial year, she said they intended to renovate MTD Stadium and Lesley Manyathela Stadium at a cost of R1 million and R833 000 respectively.

The municipality will spend R1 million to construct a road that connects Freedom Park and Nancefield, while another R1 million has been set aside for the upgrading of electrical reticulation, due to the increase in demand and the recent blackouts, particularly in some sections of Freedom Park suburb. The munipality’s social partner, Venetia Mine, is injecting R1 million into the project.

A total of R4 million will go towards the implementation of phase three of the installation of a sewer network in town and the construction of a new community hall in Nancefield has been allocated R4.5 million.

The mayor said the municipality was also in the process of negotiating with the Department of Public Works for the alienation of the Erasmus and Pretorius farms for a development of another township. She said the allocation of houses in the Mopani area by the Department of Local Government and Housing was also on the cards.

The Musina municipality is furthermore set to implement local economic development (LED) projects, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA). "We are also engaging with the Vhembe District Municipality administratively to release the municipal infrastructure grant (MIG) funds directly to our municipality in order for us to speed up project implementation," Mahasela said.

Water

"We are also happy to say that we have upgraded our water extraction systems in order to accommodate the ever-increasing demand for water in our municipality. Right now, we are in the process of upgrading water supply in our villages and Vhembe has just completed the feasibility study in that regard. We are still on course with the changing from septic tanks to a waterborne sewerage system for our town. We have just completed the construction of toilets in Campbell while the upgrading of oxidation ponds in Nancefield is nearing completion," she said.

Mahasela said the corrugated iron and plastic illegal structures that formed a shanty township, which was popularly known as Sihlala Nge Nkane, had been replaced by the sprawling new 685 RDP houses, following the demolition of the township last year. "The building of 50 houses for beneficiaries in the waterlogged area is also nearing completion and this effectively means that we have completed 735 RDP houses in one financial year," the mayor said.

Backlog in service delivery

Mahasela noted, however, that there has been a backlog in terms of service delivery, largely due to financial constraints, adding that the local authority was doing its best to address the situation.

"We acknowledge the backlog of services that our people are still trapped in and we understand the poverty level that some of our people still find themselves in. We also accept our limitations, due to financial constraints, to meet all the demands for service delivery," she said.

The municipality, Mahasela said, achieved another unqualified audit report, despite staff shortages and limited resources. The municipality has since implemented 84 % of the Workplace Skills Development Plan, and a service provider for training and job evaluation was appointed. In the spirit of nation building and institutional development, Mahasela said, the municipality advertised 84 positions of which 53 had since been filled while the remaining 31 vacant positions were expected to be filled in the 2008-2009 financial year.

"This is a wonderful achievement which has made our municipality one of the best in the province with an effective financial management system, which, in essence, marks the foundation of sound financial management."

The Musina Municipality was recently crowned overall winner of the Vuna Awards for being the best-run local municipality in the Limpopo Province. The prize included a trophy for being rated the most improved and cleanest town in the Vhembe district.

Cllr Mahasela said the budget comes at a time when the world is faced with increasing food and fuel prices. "These are all the effects of globalization and we are also part of this unpleasant situation. We therefore need to have a common focus and be involved in economic activities that will certainly empower ourselves and South Africans at large," she said.

The mayor expressed concern over the continuous damaging of the town’s roads by heavy-duty trucks delivering goods to houses.

"Trucks which find their way into residential areas are damaging our roads, resulting in potholes. We are saying that this practice must be stopped and I call on traffic officers to take the necessary steps to address the situation," she warned.

The municipality has also established committees for the disabled, a youth council, the elderly, women and children, which meet regularly and run special programmes for community development.

The mayor also reiterated the condemnation of the xenophobic attacks and urged all South Africans to embrace fellow Africans as brothers and sisters.

According to the overview of the budget estimates, the total capital estimate is R13 529 000 and the total operational budget is R83 371 000, which brings the total budget to R96.9 million.

Revenue by source

* Property rates - R212 million;

* Electricity revenue from tariff billing - R23.1 million;

* Refuse removal from tariff billing - R4.5 million;

* Service charges (other) - R13.3 million;

* Rental of facilities and equipment - R176 000;

* Interest earned - external investment - R200 000;

* Interest earned - outstanding debtors - R1.2 million;

* Fines - R3 million;

* Licenses and permits - R5.8 million;

* Government grants and subsidies - R24.2 million.

Expenditure by type

* Employee related costs - R35.1 million;

* Remuneration of councillors - R2.6 million;

* Bad debts - R500 000;

* Collection costs - R87 000;

* Depreciation - R33.3 million;

* Repairs and maintenance - R4.2 million;

* Interest paid - R1.6 million;

* Bulk purchase – Electricity - R11 million;

* Grants and subsidies paid to indigents - R3.7 million;

* Contracted services - R2.5 million;

* General expenditure - R14.6 million;

* Advertising - R161 000;

* Audit fees - R500 000;

* Bank charges - R172 000;

* Communications - R1 million;

* Insurance - R480 000;

* Legal fees - R276 000;

* Seminars/conferences - R269 000;

* Travel and accommodation - R1.2 million.

The average increase on accounts is:

Musina residential - 11.01%; Nancefield residential - 14.31%; Musina Business - 8.69%; Nancefield business - 8.96% and Indigent households - 5.85%.