Laudium Atteridgeville Saulsville Civics Association (LASCA) chairperson Tshepo Mahlangu has bemoaned the R76 million grant payment which the City of Tshwane Metro has forfeited to the National Treasury.
The National Treasury responded to Tshwane Talks enquiry regarding the forfeiture of the R76 million rand by confirming via email earlier this month that indeed the said grant to Tshwane Metro had been stopped by the National Treasury.
According to the National Treasury, the R76 million grant was stopped due to significant underspending and non-compliance with Section 18 and 19 of the Division of Revenue Act of 2023.
Originally, the National Treasury had planned to stop an amount of R635,6 million in grants to the City of Tshwane, but after the city made mitigating submissions to the Treasury, only R76 million of the intended grant money was stopped.
In light of this information, Tshwane Talks sent an email to the City of Tshwane on Thursday, 11 July 2024 asking it to respond to whether the matter of the R76 million forfeiture was tabled in the City of Tshwane Council meetings and how or whether the public was notified about this forfeiture.
Another question added to the selfsame email was whether the City of Tshwane was slow or unwilling to spend money on projects that benefited the poor, the majority of whom are black.
In both instances, no response was forthcoming from the City of Tshwane Metro.
Be that as it may, Laudium Atteridgeville Saulsville Civics Association (LASCA) chairperson Tshepo Mahlangu has weighed in on the matter, bemoaning the R76 million forfeiture as it is a lot of money by any standards.
“The DA-led administration in Tshwane wants to change the Capital City into another Orania,” he lamented.
“The DA coalition template doesn’t cater or accommodate poor communities, they want to maintain their white supremacy over the majority of citizens who are predominantly blacks,” said Mahlangu.
The projects whose funding will be stopped by the Treasury due to failure by the municipality to spend money allotted to them are as follows:
1. Energy Efficiency Demand Side Management, from which R6 million rand would be withheld by the Treasury.
2. Urban Settlement Development projects, from which R30 million will be taken back by the Treasury.
3. Informal Settlements Upgrading, from which the Treasury will cut back R25 million.
4. Neighbourhood Development Partnership, which will lose R15 million to the Treasury.
Regarding Energy Efficiency Demand Side Management, Mahlangu said the following about the municipality:
“R6 million has been lost here because they are unable to manage energy efficiency and an example in this regard is when you see Mayor Cilliers Brink signing off 40-year deals on power plants to the private sector and the city has outsourced all power stations only for the benefit of their wealthy, connected families and the inability to govern is the root cause of these unholy decisions.”
On the matter of Urban Settlement Development, Mahlangu said: “R30 million has been forfeited in this regard because they do not have a proper plan and their wrong template doesn’t cater for urban dwellers, especially black communities.”
Mahlangu added that the inner city in Pretoria/Tshwane has been hijacked by foreigners who have vandalised infrastructure and are occupying City property illegally.
He said the poor are going to be affected in this regard as they are not catered for by what he called “the toxic administration.”
On the matter of Informal Settlement Upgrading Mahlangu said: “R25 million has been deliberately forfeited to the Treasury because it will have upgraded black lives, assisted in the City’s revenue collection efforts and also helped in auditing undocumented foreigners who are consuming our basic services.”
He added that the municipality intentionally increased water tankers services budget in order to create inequality and also benefit from the proceeds of the water tankers tenders.
Mahlangu emphasised that as part of urban Settlement Development, prepaid meters should long have been rolled out at informal settlements.
Regarding the forfeiture of R15 million for Neighbourhood Development Partnership projects, Mahlangu said the forfeiture is intended to promote inequality in the City of Tshwane.