Process and public participation deficiencies: The draft 2020/21 budget was tabled two months late in terms of the process plan approved by council, as has become normal practice in recent years, albeit this time with the comfortable excuse of the Covid 19 epidemic and lockdown from 26 March. This has left less than a month for public comment and scrutinisation by opposition parties, who are totally excluded from the budget steering committee. Many public participation meetings scheduled for November and February/March never took place (even before the Covid 19 state of disaster was announced), while most recently the speaker announced a host of online Zoom public meetings that were again cancelled the next day. Considering the limited time for public comments, and with the knowledge that the ANC will push through the budget with their 58% majority, a petition was created to record the fierce opposition of residents against the proposed rates and tariff increases in the current economic situation. Within two weeks 8400 supporters have signed the petition, and over 700 comments were made through this platform. The petition, supporter list and list of comments are being submitted today together with this document detailing the DA analysis, comments and proposals on the draft budget and IDP on behalf of the petition supporters and residents who are severely affected by the fallout of covid 19. The DA has written to the speaker to demand that the council meeting to approve the budget must at least be live streamed in full in order to allow the public access to the meeting. It must furthermore be managed to ensure that each speaker is allowed to deliver their speech without interruption, failure to do this will result in an illegal budget starting 1 July 2020. In terms of section 20 of the Systems Act, “meetings of the Council and those of its committees are open to the public, including the media, and the Council or such committee may not exclude the public, including the media, from a meeting” Except in certain circumstances that are not applicable here. It further states that “Council or a committee of the Council, MAY NOT exclude the public, including the media, when considering, voting or noting any of the following matters:” “(b) a budget tabled in the Council; (c) The municipality’s integrated development plan or any amendment of the plan tabled in the Council;” In light of the above, we have requested a written response, at least 96 hours before the meeting indicating what measures are being implemented to notify and or inform the members of the public of the meeting and what mediums of communication, will be provided for their participation in observing the meeting.
Credibility of the budget: The DA is of the opinion that the credibility of the budget will be seriously affected if the following issues are not properly addressed: Plans to counter and reverse the Downgrading to Junk Status, COVID-19 impact on the 2019/20, 2020/21 and further budgets, plans to ensure implementation of the Financial Recovery Plan, plans to rectify the lack of a Long term Financial Strategy and the financial implications of Cost Containment Measures and plans to ensure that the projects contained in the capital budget are executed within time and budgets.
Councillor Tjaart van der Walt 