The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on Eugene Modise, the newly appointed deputy mayor and former member of the mayoral committee for finance in the City of Tshwane, to pay his huge overdue municipal debt of R690 000 as of 31 March 2024.
Modise was appointed deputy mayor during a special council on Friday, 18 October.
DOES THE NEW TSHWANE DEPUTY MAYOR HAVE OUTSTANDING MUNICIPAL BILLS?
A report tabled before the council in August revealed that councillors owe the Tshwane metro over R2.5 million for services.
The councillors had not paid their debt for over 90 days. One councillor owed the municipality over R860 000, which hadn’t been paid in over a year.
EWNreported that the new deputy mayor, Eugene Modise, had seven accounts and owed a staggering R695 000. On Friday, Modise said the debt had been settled.
DA caucus chairperson Jacqui Uys said that without a culture of payment, the City of Tshwane will be financially unsustainable in the medium term. It is essential that members of the Mayoral Committee not owe arrear debt to the City, or at least that if they do, they make payment arrangements.
“Leaders must set an example,” she said.
Uys said the key to improving service delivery and infrastructure rollout in the City of Tshwane is improving the metro’s financial position.
This apparently requires continuing the work outlined in the Mayoral Charter on Financial Rescue and the Budget Funding Plan.
“The strategy is, in essence, to rebuild critical aspects of the revenue value chain, to improve collections, as well as to address the more structural problems such as an outdated property valuation roll, electricity tariffs which do not cost reflective, and trading services which do not yield a surplus.
“As the City’s cash flow improves, which it has under the strategy, so will the credibility of our representations to Eskom. This will place the City in a favourable position to negotiate a debt payment plan which includes the write-off of interest,” she said.
WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD BE SUITABLE TO TAKE AGAINST PUBLIC SERVANTS WHO DO NOT PAY FOR SERVICES?
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