The Democratic Alliance (DA) condemns the ANC-led coalition in Ekurhuleni as it is unable to pass its own budget while holding executive authority in the City.
This undermines confidence in municipal governance as they have clearly lost control of their own processes, plunging the financial future of the City into chaos in a time when residents need certainty more than ever.
This week, in the Ekurhuleni City Council, the ANC walked out after only two people had voted, demonstrating a lack of respect or regard for due process.
The ANC’s proxy Speaker adjourned council without going ahead with a vote on the budget. The justification was to seek “legal advice” on how to actually vote on the budget.
This display of ANC incompetence alone is outrageous. The direct result of a lack of leadership and direction from the ANC-led coalition is that the budget process has now been thrown into limbo, creating confusion and instability.
Additionally, the current proposed budget is costly as it seeks to increase taxes for residents, with an 11% rise on water prices, 9% on electricity and 8.3% on sanitation.
These further burden residents who are struggling to make ends meet, only to see their hard-earned money squandered through ANC corruption, wasteful expenditure, and recurring outages.
A strong DA government under my leadership will put residents first and ensure responsible governance.