Shocking state of BCMM's finances

The latest information on the financial performance of Buffalo City Metro Municipality paints a dismal picture. In the financial year ending June 2011 BCMM failed to spend 47% of its capital budget – no wonder the infrastructure of BCMM is in such a poor state! Conditional grants were also under spent by nearly half. Irregular expenditure for the financial year is R197 million. The city is incurring debt to the tune of R9 million a month, partly due to poor collections of revenue. 

I will admit that a collection of revenue has improved slightly, however it is still below national treasury guidelines. BCMM is only collecting 94,2% of monies it is owed. These figures don’t include people who have been granted indigent status, so it only refers to people who can may but WON’T pay. 

The financials of BCMM are simply shocking, and without better financial management the city will never succeed. The sad part of all of this is that the people that suffer most are the ratepayers and poor of BCMM who are not having proper services rendered, while municipal officials and senior politicians continue to live lives of luxury.

Government heeds call to cap municipal manager's salaries

Two days ago I wrote a post titled metro city managers earn big bucks. In it I suggested that national government institute a ceiling for the salaries of municipal managers, as is the case with public representatives.

I am pleased to report that yesterday Deputy Cooperative Governance Minister Yunus Carrim announced that they want to curb the high salaries of municipal managers by introducing regulations determining how much they should be paid according to the size and budgets of the municipalities they run. “We are, through this law, setting ceilings for remuneration and conditions of service for municipal managers,” he said. “What we are seeking are guidelines that will say, depending on the number of residents in your municipality, the budget you have; this is the guideline we can give and we can provide a ceiling and monitor it,” he said. 

The Times has reported that six of South Africa’s metros paid their municipal managers more than their political bosses, MPs, MECs and, in some cases, ministers and premiers.

City of Johannesburg manager Mavela Dlamini, with an annual salary of R2.3-million, earns more than Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe. 

Carrim said the department would also use the new law to set the required qualification, experience and technical expertise for municipal professionals. This includes exploring an option that all future municipal chief financial officers be qualified and experienced chartered accountants. He said this was critical for smaller and poorly performing municipalities which need such qualified skills but cannot afford them. His department and the National Treasury are working out how to attract qualified chartered accountants to these municipalities. 

Meanwhile, it has emerged that a number of poorly performing municipalities are continuing to pay their municipal managers hefty performance bonuses.The DA said 56 municipal managers were paid performance bonuses in the past financial year despite the poor state of the finances of the towns and cities they run. “In total, R249-million [including performance bonuses] was paid to municipal managers last year,” said DA local government spokesman James Lorimer, who based his assessment on National Treasury figures. 


This is all good news as it seems that government is serious about curbing exorbitant salaries, making sure that only qualified people take up these positions and that they have performance agreements in place.

Metro city managers earn BIG BUCKS

I don’t dispute the fact that it takes a highly intelligent and educated person to head up any large metropolitan municipality, however how much are these services really worth? Many city managers are earning over or close to R2 million a year, more than twice the mayor’s salary and almost as much as Jacob Zuma gets paid!

This is what some city managers are earning: Johannesburg R2.3 million; eThekwini (Durban) R2.1m; Ekurhuleni (East Rand) R1.8m; City of Cape Town R1.7m; Tshwane (Pretoria) R1.5m. Of the metros Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s (Port Elizabeth) city manager is the lowest paid, earning R1.4 million a year. His salary is, however, still far more than the R843 000 MPs are paid. Buffalo City residents can expect their new municipal manager to earn a similar amount.

To prevent these sorts of large discrepancies, the salaries of municipal public representatives (mayors, councillors etc) are capped nationally. The salaries of municipal officials, like the city manager, are set by the council. Perhaps it’s time that officials also receive national caps on their salaries.

HOORAY! Secrecy bill is shelved!

Opposition parties, activists and media groups celebrated today as the ANC shelved a controversial secrecy bill after a widespread outcry that it would muzzle investigations into government wrongdoing. In it's current form the legislation would stifle whistle-blowers and investigative journalists who possessed or disclosed classified material with jail terms of up to 25 years.

"There are still interested parties who need further hearing, as well as other parties who have made late submissions," ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga told journalists, saying this was despite "extensive consultations and improvements". "The ANC is of the view that these voices should be heard. The ANC caucus has therefore decided not to table the bill tomorrow (Tuesday) to allow parliament to engage further."

I certainly hope that this bill never makes it to the National Assembly, and if it does, in a greatly altered form as it would fuel corruption!

Polititians live the high life at taxpayer's expense

President Zuma jetted to New York in his private jet yesterday. He is expected to address the general assembly at the 66th United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. What I find astounding about this trip is that he has taken TWO of his wives with him – at taxpayers’ expense. 

Yesterday City Press reported that Zuma would be accompanied by his wife

Thobeka Madiba and his fiance, Bongi Ngema-Zuma, who qualifies as an official spouse.

Not surprisingly, Presidency spokesman Bongani Majola refused to comment, saying the SANDF handled the President’s flight schedule and the flights fell within their budget. City Press reported that Ngema had accompanied the president on several international trips and sources close to the situation say Madiba “organised her own thing” in order to visit the Big Apple. The paper reports that there is animosity among the president’s first wives over international trips.

With all this extravagance, a presidential report released recently reveals no surprises. Zuma had overspent the travel budget allocated to him and his three wives and children by 33 percent.  The Presidency spent R89.5-million on support for Zuma compared with the allocated R66.8-million.

On Saturday we read in the Daily Dispatch of International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane’s refusal to put her handbag through an airport X-ray scanner in Oslo, Norway, resulted in her missing a commercial flight to Bulgaria where she was due to attend a meeting. As a result she ended up hiring a private jet at a cost of R235 343.

DA Spokesperson Lindiwe Mazibuko said that over the past two years President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet had spent more than R3.8billion financing lavish lifestyles and stroking the egos of its members with self-congratulatory advertising, property renovations, luxury vehicles and VIP tickets to sporting events.

Can South Africa really afford all of this extravagance? I think not.

Zuma arms deal probe is just another cover-up

SANDF Gripen Fighter

I believe that the only reason Jacob Zuma has initiated an arms deal probe (12 years after the deal took place) is to avoid public embarrassment when a Constitutional Court forces him to do so in November. 

There is the distinct danger that the commission of inquiry will be controlled and 'contained' to reduce the fallout for the ANC. Just like we saw recently with the Judicial Services Commission, the committee will be mostly ANC deployed cadres. Also, given the length of time since the now R70 billion arm deal scandal broke, corrupt politicians would have seen to it that all documents implicating them were destroyed. 

I fear that this is just more window dressing and another waste of money...

I bet you never knew that SA had a Witchcraft Suppression Act!

This is something most people might not have known about South Africa: First, we have a piece of national legislation the purpose of which is to criminalise witchcraft related crime; second, we have an official police unit dedicated to its implementation. 

 The legislation is called the Witchcraft Suppression Act [1957] and has never been repealed. In fact, it was amended post 1994 and appeared as such in the Government Gazette in 1997. 

The dedicated unit in question is called the ‘South African Police Services Occult Related Crime Unit’ and, although there is no official section dedicated to it on the SAPS website, various media reports allude to it and it is out there, doing its thing. Their stated aim in the following: 1. To investigate occult-related crime effectively; 2. To promote the prevention of occult-related crime; 3. To gather, manage, use and disseminate information on occult-related crime in order to meet the legal obligations of the occult-related Crime Unit, in conjunction with the South African Police Service Crime Intelligence Component, and; 4. To render services of a high standard to victims of occult-related crime. 

The Act itself is probably unconstitutional, but is based on the premise that the problem with witchcraft in South Africa is not so much the actual practice as it is the identification of people as witches or wizards, which often ends in them being injured if not killed. It says much the country - first world aspirations undermined by third work realities - but I am more interested in why there is not more information on this. 

If we have an Act, and we have public money behind a unit, surely its outcomes should be measured, and the problem debated. How many people die because they were labelled witches each year? How big the unit? What does it do? What is the nature of the problem? I can’t think of too many democracies that have anti-witchcraft legislation.

If you'd like a copy of the act, send me an email.

From: Gareth van Onselen