uMfolozi Local Municipality Draft IDP and Budget 2016/17 tabled before Council

uMfolozi Municipality Mayor, Cllr S.W. Mgenge presented the 2016/2017 Budget Address for the for the municipality at the uMfolozi Council Chamber on Tuesday, 29 March 2016.

The Mayor went on to explain that the R175 million budget was geared towards reducing unnecessary expenditure and increasing infrastructure development. The focus of this budget was to ensure that the municipality continues to meet its IDP goals and drives economic investment. Municipal Manager Mr K.E. Gamede said that the budget is focussed on achieving service delivery and good corporate governance. “My duty as the Municipal Manager is to ensure that the objectives are met in a timeous and orderly manner. The draft IDP reflects the objectives of the council for the 2016/2017 financial year. In developing this budget my financial team took various external factors into account, this included the current state of affairs in our economy and the economic climate in our municipality. The draft budget gives birth to the service delivery and budget implementation plan (SDBIP) which is reflective of the targets and objective for the 2016/2017 financial year. This contributes to the objectives set out in the IDP, he stated.
The Purpose of the SDBIP is centred on ensuring that officials and councillors work towards a common goal by optimising limited resources and streamlining the efforts of the municipality to meet its service delivery targets. As the custodian of performance in the municipality it my responsibility to ensure that the budget and the IDP is monitored and evaluated to allow the necessary interventions if required. This is evident in us being awarded an Incentive grant allocation for three years in a row for meeting our expenditure targets for MIG. This in itself shows our commitment towards ensuring that our people do not remain disadvantaged even though we have a low revenue generating rates base.
Chief Financial Officer Mr J.V. Nkosi said that aligning the budget to meet its goals. Developing this budget took into consideration that as a rural municipality is highly dependent on government grants and subsidies which makes up 80% of the revenue stream with the remaining 20% coming from loans. The key focus in the 2016/2017 financial year was to increase revenue collection and this target has been exceeded. Mr Nkosi went on to say that the municipality hopes to continue this upward trajectory of revenue collection and reduce long outstanding debts. The key focus areas of our budget is to try and mitigate the negative economic factors and to create an enabling environment that is geared towards unlocking and creating a conducive investment climate.