The FF Plus does not support a salary increase of 4,4% for councillors of a metro like Nelson Mandela Bay (NMBM), which offers exceptionally poor service delivery.
The money should rather be used for maintenance on the outdated water pipelines so that councillors can demonstrate they are serious about ensuring good service delivery and water security.
The FF Plus is also of the opinion that the hikes for property tax (5,5%), and sanitation and garbage disposal (6%) must be reduced by about one percentage point.
Water tariffs must not be increased. The Metro must first get its own house in order and prove that it is doing everything in its power to get the water system fully functional before it can consider any increases.
Therefore, an increase of 6% is totally unacceptable. Residents are not to blame for the poor water infrastructure and leakages.
At present, a mere portion of the Metro’s residents is covering all the expenses. A handful is paying the price for a poor local government, and the benefits that non-payers receive for free. Payers must not be exploited like this any longer.
The Metro’s focus should shift to addressing non-payers and correcting invoicing problems.
The Metro has an estimated unemployment rate of 47%, while economic activities keep declining because of the Metro’s poor management. Loyal taxpayers are not to blame for that either.
The Metro has a poor revenue collection rate for water (46%), which indicates that officials are not doing their jobs and must be held accountable.
The proposed power tariff hike of 7,47%, in comparison to NERSA’s proposed increase of 8,61%, is acceptable, though still far too high in light of the fact that consumers are paying for years of mismanagement and corruption.
Over-time payments must be cut back seeing as it paves the way for poor service and fraud, because officials will deliberately avoid doing work during normal hours so as to earn extra money for work done after hours.
The culture of poor service delivery, which has developed among officials, must be addressed at once.
A healthy work ethic must be cultivated on all levels by ensuring, among other things, that duties are performed in line with job descriptions.
Wherever the ANC has had a hand in governing for a number of years, there is decay and decline. This must be rectified. The people of NMBM deserve better.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Bill Harington on FF Plus
