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The Buffalo City Municipality is in financial distress and is effectively working with an unfunded budget. The budget was passed by council a mere four months ago.

The metro has decided to curtail practically all own funded capital and operating projects effectively leaving the budget unfunded.

This became clear during briefing sessions with local councillors in the run-up to Mayoral Imbizo meetings across the metro.

The Mayoral Imbizo is aimed at giving feedback on upcoming service delivery projects and progress made on existing ones.

The financial crisis in Buffalo City is exacerbated by the non-sitting of the municipality’s finance portfolio committee. This means that opposition parties are not able to play an oversight role in the budget process. The committee is also unable to fulfil its legislated mandate.

We will now write to DA EC Shadow MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Vicky Knoetze, MPL, to request that she takes the matter up in the Eastern Cape legislature and with the MEC for CoGTA.

It is unacceptable that this committee has failed to quorate four times since February this year – most recently on 23 September 2022.

The budget requires input from and monitoring by council. This is primarily performed through the monthly meetings of the finance portfolio committee.

The DA will also once again raise the non-sitting of the finance portfolio committee with the offices of the Chief Whip and Speaker. It is their responsibility to ensure that portfolio committees meet in order to consider the business of council. Failure of committees to meet to perform their oversight responsibilities translate to a lack of service delivery to the detriment of all residents.

We will not stand by while this ANC government flaunts the rules and regulations of council.

In times where every South African is battling to cope with the escalated cost of living, the DA will continue to fight for better services for all our people.

Issued by Cllr Sue Bentley - DA BCM Caucus Leader