The Tshwane Municipal Council’s failure to pass its adjustment budget for the third time, will affect residents the most and impact negatively on service delivery
Last week, the Council needed 108 votes (50% + plus 1) to pass the adjustment budget but got only 107 and failed to meet its third deadline.
The ANC-led provincial government raised concerns and expressed disappointment that the city was unable to pass the budget “despite an extension to the 14 of April”.
The failure to pass the adjustment budget is an indication of lack of cohesion and City of Tshwane residents will bear the brunt as some of the basic services will not be rendered.
This is the view of political analyst Levy Ndou after the municipality failed to pass the adjustment budget on Friday.
On Monday, the Mayor of City Cilliers Brink said the coalition government has written to the provincial government requesting them to give them until the end of the month to pass the budget.
Brink said the coalition government could not pass the budget because the DA didn’t have the numbers as a councilor was recovering from an operation and another DA councilor had resigned. The ANC and the EFF rejected the budget.
Ndou said residents will be the most affected if the politicians fail to pass the budget and it is an indication of instability and the implication of not passing a budget is quite huge.
It means that the municipality will not be able to render some of the basic services to the citizens of the city and their inability to pass the budget is also an indication of lack of cohesion and cooperation among political parties and politicians, said Ndou.
“It has huge implications on the future of the municipality but also at an administrative level you have a situation where the City of Tshwane couldn’t pass the budget because they didn’t have a political leadership.
“The change of leadership which is constant in the City of Tshwane has huge implications on the running of the municipality. If they can’t pass the budget it means they are actually stuck and have potential to invite questions coming from the provincial government,” said Ndou.
