30 Nov 2021

With about four months left before the end of the 2021/22 financial year, Kgatleng District Council is on a budgetary slope with some of its votes overspent.

This was revealed by the council chairperson, Mr Daniel Molokwe at the beginning of the full council meeting in Mochudi on Monday.

He said a number of critical votes such as overtime, lighting, gas and water and legal and technical advice had been overspent, adding they had to negotiate a payment plan with utility service providers.

“Council will continue to analyse and re-prioritise the budget,” he said.

Mr Molokwe further said the council had come up with strategies to strengthen revenue collection.

Meanwhile, the council chairperson said the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccines was satisfactory with 37 346 people in the district being fully vaccinated.

He said the District Health Management Team (DHMT) continued to educate the public about the pandemic, emphasising that health protocols still had to be followed.

Talking about matimela, (lost and found livestock), the chairperson said the council raised P513 020 through the sale of 152 cattle and 52 small stock from the Artesia kraal.

Mr Molokwe acknowledged the challenges they faced in caring for the livestock, adding that they were provided with lucerne and water, but others unfortunately died.

He said they were awaiting test results to determine the cause of the deaths.

He said the authority had temporarily suspended the collection of matimela animals to review caretaking strategies and move the kraal in Artesia.

“Badisa (herdsmen) will in the meantime be engaged in driving away cattle from the A1 road and major villages and centres within the district,” he said adding however this would not extend beyond January 2022.

Mr Molokwe said construction of Mochudi-Malotwana road started on November 14 and was expected to be completed on November 13 next year.

He pointed out that with only one grader in the district, the council had managed to grade roads in Bokaa, Matebele, Oodi and Modipane.

He said given the shortage of equipment, they had prioritised major villages and the rest would be done in the next round of grading.

“This situation has been worsened by the exhausted budget for staff travelling expenses and unavailability of qualifying plant operators in the market,” he said. ENDS