17 Jul 2018

The Chairperson of the Finance and General Purpose Committee in the North East District Council (NEDC), Mr Dumani Kelepi has called on all committees within the district to identify new sources of revenue to augment the government support grant.

Presenting the budget estimates for NEDC financial year 2019/2020 in Masunga on Thursday, Councillor Kelepi said budget proposal amounted to P226.7 million.

He stated that of this amount P218. 2 million was to be financed by the estimated revenue support grant, while P8.4 million would be income from own source.

However, he indicated that this was a tentative budget, which was subject to correction after the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development availed financial ceilings.

Councillor Kelepi said his committee undertook consultations with different council committees to enhance the transparency of the budget.

He stated that project implementation remained a challenge for government, adding that the recurrent budget should be utilised within a year as such all projects should be completed within a specified period and budget.

“Projects should not be characterised by cost overruns and questionable quality, hence it is against this background that NEDC continues to take measures to improve on project implementation,” he said.

Council chairperson, Ms Florah Mpetsane called all on stakeholders to plan on time and adhere to budget to avoid situations where funds are returned though some projects were not completed as has been the case during the past financial year.

Ms Mpetsane further urged everyone to be accountable at all times.

Councillor Smarts Mathonsi of Tshesebe requested the council to consider budgeting for the installation of tower lights in every village within the district, saying the lights could assist in fighting crime.

He also advocated for the diversification of sources of revenue so that the council does not depend entirely on the government grant.

In his response, Councillor Kelepi agreed that it was the responsibility of every committee to source revenue by collecting rentals and advertising charges among others.

He said it was proven that criminal activities in villages that have tower lights decreased, while criminals migrated to villages without lights, hence said they would look into the proposal of tower lights. ENDS