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The Freedom Front Plus said at today's (Thursday, 26 November 2009) meeting of the Tshwane metro council that the ANC is making a serious mistake by scaling down service delivery while increasing its loans in order to manage the current financial crisis in the municipality.

In a council report the Legal Services Department warned that savings forced on departments could lead to unsatisfactory service delivery, and this poses a legal risk for the municipality.

The Metro Council also seeks permission to acquire a loan of more than R1.3 billion in order to fund existing capital projects. The metro council's long term debt increased from R2.7 billion to R4.2 billion during the 2008/2009 financial year, while the city's debtors increased from R3.5 billion to R3.9 billion. The city's short term debt currently stands at more than R1.2 billion. Bad debt more than doubled from an estimated R131 million to R326 million which was written off.

According to Mr. Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg, FF Plus councillor, the solution to the current financial crisis and cash flow problems do not lie in rendering less services and more debt, but in the effective collection of municipal debt.

"The City's financial malaise cannot be cured by hacking off patient's limbs. The ANC chose an absurd solution for the financial problems, i.e. decreasing service delivery and further loans. This leads to a vicious circle that may end in an implosion of the municipality's activities," Van Rensburg gesê.

Poor policies, slack enforcement thereof and a total inability to manage the city's finances are at the root of the city's financial woes. The ANC is now reaping what they had sowed. Radical transformation, affirmative action and poor and corrupt management are now taking their toll.

The FF Plus opposed the loan during the council meeting.