10 Aug 2020

 

Kgalagadi District Council has been hailed for including maintenance of schools in the proposed 2021/22 budget.

Hukuntsi West councilor, also Hukuntsi Sub-council deputy chairperson, Mr Kerapetse Jane, said this in an interview following a special full council session recently.

 Mr Jane appreciated that the budget covered maintenance of 15 employee houses in Hukuntsi where asbestos houses shall be demolished.

Tsabong South councillor, Mr John Lentshikang, appreciated the budget estimates which he said covered priority areas such as road infrastructure development and maintenance of schools.

He appreciated inclusion of procurement of vehicles, which he said would aid in transportation to speed up service delivery.

For his part, councilor for Ukhwi/Ngwatle/Zutshwa Mr Onyaditswe Lucas called for more remote areas such as those in his wards to be included in the development budget.

He called for construction of water reticulation infrastructure in the wards.

In his presentation, council chairperson, Mr Hendrick Jacobs, said the council proposed a recurrent budget of P419 million which was an increase of 93 per cent compared to the 2020/2021 budget allocation.

The council also proposed development budget of P397 million for implementation of proposed new projects and ongoing projects.

Under the proposed recurrent budget, he said, P415 million would be expended as revenue support grant.

He said the grant would be augmented by the P4.4 million that would be collected as income from council various own revenue sources.

He added that this would be implemented against the backdrop that government called for district councils to improve own revenue sources.

He emphasized that the budget was just estimation and the figures were subject to change depending on the budget ceiling, which would be provided after the November parliament session.

 Thus, he said, it was critical for the council to identify new revenue streams and intensify revenue collection strategies.

So far, he said, the council’s major revenue contributions were interest on investments, staff house rentals, sanitation fees, trade licenses, insurance commission, tender fees and sale of various items.

On the development budget, Mr Jacobs said the council proposed a total of P397 million for implementation of proposed new projects.

Breaking down the 2021/2022 budget estimates, finance committee chairperson, Kang North councilor, Mr Kemmonye Makatane said under the recurrent budget Tsabong Sub-district Council was estimated to expend P179 million, Hukuntsi allocated P186 million, while council headquarters was allotted P54 million.

 He stated that top priorities for the next financial year were expenditure on relief of destitute persons, maintenance of infrastructure such as roads and buildings, outsourcing of waste collection and replacement of old vehicles.

Furthermore, cllr Makatane said the ambitious budget included primary schools facilities maintenance, community projects, primary schools facilities backlog eradication, rural administration projects, customary courts, sanitation, fire station, staff houses, procurement of new vehicles as well as special funds.

On creation and improvement of revenue streams he said not much had been achieved so far to reduce reliance on the government support grant to finance the council high expenditure.

  However, he said, the council was in the process of reviewing tariffs on various services and property rentals since the some of the latest rates were reviewed in 2018 while some were done in 2003 such as school levy for Day Care Centers which rated P30 per term but was proposed to be increased to P100 per term.

Furthermore, hiring of classrooms use was P50 and was one of the items currently under review as it was last reviewed in 2004. ENDS