MAYOR’S PRESENTATION OF THE ADOPTION OF THE FINAL BUDGET FOR FINANCIAL YEAR 2016/2017 TO COUNCIL, ON 27 MAY 2016, AT UMZUMBE COUNCIL CHAMBER
Deputy Mayor Cllr Nompilo Mweshe
Speaker of Umzumbe Council- Cllr Sizwe Ngcobo
Members of the Executive Committee
Amakhosi
All Councilors
Municipal Manager Ms Nokuthula Mgijima
And all officials present here today
I greet you egameni lokwakha ikusasa elingcono
I would be out of order Mister Speaker if I were to start my presentation by not recognizing the new Premier of our Province Honorable Thembinkosi Willies Mchunu. He is one of the best combrades that has been produced by the ANC. With him is seniority and lots of experience in government. The proof of all of this is the deployments that he has been getting as Deputy Speaker, Speaker and MEC in our Province.I wish to echo to sentiments of the majority party in our province in wishing the former Premier Mr Senzo Mchunu well in his new deployments.
We meet a month after we laid to rest the remains of one of our own, Cllr Mbutho. She was a dedicated member of this Council and we wish to say that may her soul rest in peace.
In the past two weeks Mister Speaker, we met at Umuziwabantu Municipality at Phumza Sports fieldto launch the 16 years of local government flame. This flame came to Umzumbe Municipality where we took it to Mgayi in ward 9 to launch the electrification of over 300 households. It was with great jubilation that we received the flame as the municipality. Our celebrations of the flame were never in vain. During our briefing of Ugu District MEC Champion,Honorable Weziwe Thusi about the status quo of our municipality, we told her that we have chosen Mgayi electrification projects because electricity talks directly to the very being of our people. It speakes directy to our motto of Ukwakha Ikusasa Elingcono.We also told her that the 300 odd households we are launching today are but portion of the phases that we are still going to light up. The number we are anticipating is over 600 around Mgayi area alone. We also told her about the Nkehlamandla project where we continue to electrify. This and many other projects such as the construction of Ntatshana Access road in ward 8, Sipofu Access road in ward 12, Mdletshe Access raod in ward 6, completion of phase one of Ntelezi Heritage Centre, Nkanini Indoor Sports Centre are but a few of what we celebrate as gains of the 16 years of local government. We told her about the process we are undergoing of appointing the two Director posts in our municipality. They promised their intervention.
When we presented the draft budget Mister Speaker, I need to remind the house that we said that our budget was cut extremely. Explaining these cutsMinister of Finance,Pravin Gordhan said that the extreme budget cuts were due to the economic challenges faced by the country at large. He further cautioned us to spend wisely.
We have done our IDP roadshows and the people have spoken. What we are here to do is to put financial commitments to all that they said they needed. We know that the people want everything in one day however we need to show that we are doing all we can to prioritize and whatever they need they will get in good time. This is the last budget to be adopted by this Council as we go for elections on the 3rd of August 2016. We have done a lot together. We need to take pride in all that we have done whether we will be here beyond the elections or not.
Today’s presentation is informed by the fact that the MFMA, which amongst other things stipulates that:
The Council of the municipality must for each financial year approve an annual budget for the municipality before the start of the new financial year
In order for the municipality to comply with subsection (1), the Mayor of the Municipality must table the draft annual budget at a council meeting at least 90 days before the start of the financial year.
Our income budget projection through Government Grants is at
R174018 000,00
This figure includes grants such as:
Grants / 2015/2016 / 2016/2017Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) / R34522 000 / R 32 622 000,00
Equitable share / R127112 000 / R119 488 000,00
Disaster Management Grant / R15900 357 / R 10 000 000,00
Local Government Financial Management Grant (FMG) / R1800 000 / R1 825 000,00
Integrated National Electrification Programme / R13719 745 / R9 000 000,00
EPWP / R1084 000 / R 1 083 000,00
In addition we project an income through investments to an amount of R8 300 000,00 and a further R4 157 557,00 income will be obtained through our rates income, with R150 000,00 to be collected through tender sales and hall hire. From our own savings the budget will be topped up with R 21 438457,50 thus totaling our 2016/2017 financial year budget toR 208 413 014,50
Our Capital Budget allocation isR 152,247,114.50. As I said earlier, we have been asked to tighten our belts.This is the budget, Speaker, that we wish to ensure that we “Build a better future” for our communities. There was a lot of cutting and adjusting when preparing this budget. There was lot of prioritizing on projects. Some projects had to be put on ice.
I think I must mention that there was a lot of crunching the figures here to ensure that the fact that our budget is cut does not become visible in our service delivery. We have ensured that service delivery remains a top priority. We will continue with more infrastructure projects as we want to see Nkanini Indoor Sports Centre completed on time and the new municipal offices going off the ground.
The remaining R 151851409.50has been set aside as an operational budget. Through this allocation we have a clear programme of action which includes Poverty Alleviation Projects, Special Programmes (Gender, HIV/AIDS, and Elderly), Youth Programmes, Ward Committee Programmes, Waste Management Programme, the registration fee assistance programme as well as other operational activities such aspayment ofsalaries and maintenance of existing assets.
As this current administration we have done a lot in ensuring that the shape of the municipality if exceptional. We pride ourselves in doing that. We have achieved clean audits and did massive infrastructure projects. We wish to say that our working together brought us where we are today.
I therefore, present to this council our 2016/17budget that seeks to respond to the proposal of the communities that we promised that Sakha Ikusasa elingcono.
I thank you.
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