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Johannesburg – The City of Ekurhuleni Speaker of Council, Nthabiseng Tshivenga, has agreed to convene an extraordinary council meeting, to discuss the metro’s “financial crisis” following pressure from the DA.
The council sitting is set for October 17.
DA’s caucus whip, Michael Waters, said while they welcomed Tshivenga’s response, his party believes that given the continuing deterioration of the City finances, that meeting could not come too soon.
“While our financial situation crumbles it is the communities of Ekurhuleni who suffer, due to dwindling service delivery. The DA is particularly concerned about the city’s financial liquidity and its ability to pay its creditors,” he said.
Waters said at the end of June 2023, the draft Annual Financial Statement reported the City’s cash flow at R438 million, saying that represented less than 0,13 days of cash on hand.
The City is currently sitting with just over R3 billion in outstanding payments owed to creditors, of which R254m was owed to Eskom, R174m owed to Rand Water, R117m owed to the city’s very own entity, ERWAT, and R2.5bn is owed to other outsourced contractors.
He said these outstanding payments were putting considerable strain on the City’s ability to function and were now affecting service delivery, with infrastructure failure and lack of maintenance becoming the order of the day.
Waters said the DA called on the EFF-appointed MMC for Finance, Nkululeko Dunga, to present a turnaround strategy in council when the DA’s urgent motion is heard. “Sustainable long-term financial strategies must be developed and implemented with sound budgetary practices, strict expenditure, credit control, and financial discipline.
“Under a DA-led administration, strict cost-containment measures saw the City’s finances begin to recover, following decades of ANC abuse.
“Sadly, these measures were undone when the EFF/ANC coalition came into power and these parties have again taken the city to the brink of bankruptcy,” he said.
Waters said the DA would table proven workable solutions to rebuild the city’s finances while delivering critical services to communities.
“It is time to rescue Ekurhuleni,” he said.