With only 380 submissions received from the public during the public participation process, City council last week passed a R61,3 billion budget for 2022-’23 with the proposed tariff increases staying unchanged, a position challenged by various opposition parties in the budget debate on Wednesday.
Come July increases will go ahead with 6,5% for water and sanitation, 9,5% for electricity, 5,2 % for property rates and 5% for refuse; all above the Reserve Bank’s projected CPI inflation of 4.8% for the 2022 budget year.
Lennit Max from the FF+ said the tariff increases are unsympathetic towards the effects covid had on the residents of Cape Town and is milking the middle class.
“The middle class is burdened by subsidising informal settlements. We are concerned about the sustainability of this growing number of unpaying households. Those who can pay must pay. The cost of living is unbearable and unemployment is growing,” he said.
He furthermore said the City ignored the pleas of residents to reduce the unaffordable rates increases.
Considering the capital budget of R7,4 billion, Banele Majingo of the ANC said while the City is not short of finances for capital projects, the slow implementation is concerning.
“Why is the pace so slow and why are all plans behind schedule? Do we have the necessary skills for planning and executing projects and how does the City fare with contract monitoring?” he asked.
In her turn Sakina Frenchman of the Cape Coloured Congress (CCC) questioned the public participation process.
“Out of a City of some 4,8 million people only 380 submissions were received. This alone should tell you that the City’s public participation process is failing dismally.”
She said the City’s social media and digital projects do not reach the communities where it is mostly needed as most communities do not have access to internet; likewise pamphlets distributed with municipal bills to only homeowners excludes many.
Frenchman said former requests in council to employ other methods for public participation have fallen on deaf ears.
Also from the CCC, Fadiel Adams said the budget does not speak to the needs of residents.
“The mayor applauds the leader of opposition in parliament’s issue on the reduction of fuel tax, yet this municipality can’t drop the pipe levy our pensioners cannot afford. We hike water and rates where there is no financial reason to do so. The City has billions in reserve after all,” he said.
Following the council meeting Sandra Dickson from the Civic Action Group Stop COCT also criticised the public participation process.
“Something is greatly amiss if only 380 people in a City of over 4 million people care to respond to the draft budget.”
She said the debate was a futile exercise and served only as a tick box for the City to pass the budget.
“Not one councillor or member of the public managed to change one iota of the tariffs or rebate cut-offs in the draft budget. In other words today’s council meeting was a venting exercise for councillors.
“The entire process of budgeting in the City of Cape Town should be revised in order to make it a credible process which the public can trust,” she said.
In response to this the City’s Mayco member for finances Siseko Mbandezi said many of the comments received pertained to the increase in rates and tariffs.
“Many residents felt that the increases should have been lower, and some even said that we should not have implemented any increases at all, but this is simply not feasible. The cost of delivering services to our growing population increases each year, and our increases are finely calculated to ensure that we are able to continue service delivery.
“Public participation is fundamental to ensuring the City delivers on the needs of residents… The City’s budget is also informed by the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) inputs (that garnered more than 34 000 comments) and ongoing public consultation throughout the year and is not limited to the statutory public participation period.
“Public participation is always a fluid process where not everyone will be happy with what the municipal council eventually decides.
“The primary aim of the process is to engage the community as extensively as possible in order for them to understand and in turn engage with the City,” he said.
He furthermore said the City has complied with its legislative mandate in the implementation of the process.
“The City has been implementing the rules laid down by the Constitutional Court as it pertains to the requirements for public participation.”
He said a number of adjustments were made to the initially proposed draft budget insofar as capital and operating spending is concerned.
They include updated grant funding provisions, more funding for street cleaning and amendments to ward allocation projects based on requirements of the newly elected ward councillors.
