The mayor of Makhado, Cllr Mavhungu Luruli, expressed the sincere hope that the council will attain a clean audit in the next two years. She announced during Saturday’s budget meeting that an action plan is being developed and implemented to ensure that the municipality complies with all applicable legislation governing the financial management of the Council.

The 2010/2011 budget caused very few eyebrows to rise. The increases, apart from electricity, were very moderate. Services such as refuse removal, water and sewerage will be 6,25% more expensive in the coming year. Electricity tariffs rise by 22%, but this was generally expected, in light of Eskom’s dramatic increases.

The Makhado Municipality’s operational budget totalled just over R608 million. The income is mostly derived from the profit on the selling of electricity (R232 million) and various grants (R243 million). Municipal rates bring in another R33 million, whereas water sales provide R19,5 million and Licenses and Permits add R12,7 million to the municipality’s coffers.

The bulk of the expenditure goes towards salaries, wages and allowances (R234 million). The budgeted costs for general expenses is R107,3 million and for bulk purchases the municipality expects to pay just over R100 million in the coming year. For repairs and maintenance, Council allocated R48,6 million and a further R82 million goes towards the capital contribution.

The capital budget for the 2010/2011 financial year is R165,5 million. Apart from the R82 million that is derived from the operational income, the municipality hopes to receive R46,1 million municipal infrastructure grant. Provision is also made for a new loan to the value of R28 million to fund some of the capital projects.

The projects to be funded by the municipal infrastructure grant include a ring road in Tshakhuma (R16 million), the tarring of streets in Eltivillas (R5 million) and the upgrading of streets in Tshikota (R5,5 million). Bridges in Tshivhuyuni, Mbokota, Madadzhi and Muwaweni are to be constructed at an estimated cost of R4,5 million and a testing station for Dzanani is on the cards at a cost of R3 million.

During her speech, Mayor Luruli made it clear that the people want less talk and more action. Housing is one aspect where Council will continue to try and make a difference to the lives of people. In the next year, Council plans to build 1 050 more housing units in various villages to help the poor. Out of the 129 000 households in the municipality, 94 307 have access to basic electricity. A total of 6 822 households are to benefit from the new electrification projects.

“We have recently launched a pilot programme, in partnership with Eskom, with the aim of scaling up new registration and capturing of indigents´ application for free basic electricity by the needy and deserving households. This project will ensure that at least 30 000 new applications are completed and captured by the end of June 2010,” she said.

Mayor Luruli was confident that these projects, as well as other initiatives, will improve the culture of paying for municipal services. “Payment levels for services - between July 2009 and May 2010 – have improved from 72% to 82%,” she said.

The ideal of establishing a solid financial management structure was high on the agenda. “We anticipate establishing our own Municipal SCOPA to ensure that we fully enhance the ideal of a transparent and accountable administration,” Mayor Luruli said.

Mayor Luruli also had a good word for the press when she quoted Thomas Jefferson as saying: “… and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”