MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Councillor Jeanette Gouws from the ACDP has offered comment on the recently adopted municipal budget.

To summarise, Gouws says:

• Creases are unaffordable.
• Non-essential spending should be cut.
• Community safety should be prioritised through cameras and lighting.

Gouws says she is in awe of the sheer volume of work that the compilation of the budget entails.

"The man hours needed to present this document to council and to then consider inputs and present a final draft is not only noticed but hugely appreciated. Compliments must be extended to the Budget Steering Committee and the Finance Directorate."

But she adds: "Unfortunately the ACDP will not accept this budget as the ACDP feels that the raising of income and the direction of funds spent has not been sufficiently committed to addressing the plight of our cash strapped residents."

Gouws notes: "We have had two very difficult years behind us and still face an uncertain future in the new financial year, 2021/2022. Compiling a budget under such conditions cannot be easy.

There is much in this budget for which the ACDP is thankful."

This includes:

• Water security for Herbertsdale
• Upgrade of toilets at Great Brak
• Greenhaven Sport Field fence
• Soccer facilities at Wolwedans

Gouws says: "We note the engagement with local business and its input that the budget steering committee has noted and implemented.

"In part this entails the maintenance of our capital projects programme and the planned expenditure on such. This is understandable as it will provide an impetus to our local economy and cause a multiplier effect. The ACDP supports this spending.

Gouws says the ACDP would have severely curtailed the expenditure on new vehicles and rather spent money on community safety and residents' wellbeing in the form of the following expenditure:

• Street lights in dark areas all over Ward 7
• Safety cameras in wards 9, 10, 12, 13 (D`Almeida, Hartenbos, Joe Slovo, Extension 23, 26, 13)
• Play park in Island View
• Monitoring cameras at Dias Beach, which is a crime hotspot and unsafe for residents and visitors
• Maintenance and cleaning of river mouths and estuaries
• Bins along Flora Road
• Fencing of play parks in Scholtz, Zingisa and Mzathi Streets
• Pedestrian crossing at Albert Luthuli
• Toekoms and Glentana Trim Parks
• Upgrading of toilets in Friemersheim Community Hall

"Other expenditure the ACDP would have placed on hold for when the economy improves is almost a million rand on Mossel Bay advertising aillboards, R1,5 million on the tourism route, almost a R1 million on a car wash bay for municipal vehicles and non-essential spending on the Joint Operations Centre building considering the already substantial amounts spent on the completion and upgrading of the building," Gouws says.

"Mayor, this is the ACDP concern: residents who are cash strapped, many who have lost businesses and jobs due to the crippling lockdowns and the very real threat of major job losses at PetroSA mean that residents simply cannot afford to pay for non-essentials. Our pensioners' income has been diminished by poor interest rates in the contracting economy and they are finding themselves in great difficulty.

"Our residents have proved to be loyal and faithful in settling their accounts, but rising costs in the form of rates and taxes, availability fees and service charges are unaffordable for many.

"While the Mossel Bay Municipality has attempted to assist desperate residents with discounts, many of our poor and elderly are struggling to keep the lights on, particularly with the added costs to their debt through auxilliary payments to Debtpack, to whom debtors are handed over through our Credit Control Policy.

"Millions of rands of debt write-offs make our payment percentages look better than they are and due to our Credit Control Policy many poor cannot escape the debt cycle once handed over to Debtpack.

"The ACDP notes with thanks all the hard work that has gone into this budget and the attempts that have been made to meet the needs with limited funds," Gouws concludes.

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