Jordaan’s pro-poor budget approved

THE Nelson Mandela Bay council has passed a R10.8-billion propoor budget, designed to appease some of the city’s most destitute. Tariff hikes of 9.5% for property rates, 9% for water, sanitation and refuse, and 7.6% for electricity were approved by the ANC, COPE, UDM and an independent at a heated council meeting yesterday.

The DA did not support the budget, saying mayor Danny Jordaan’s administration had failed to cut down on wasteful expenditure and had not improved service delivery on the ground.

The new tariffs come into effect on July 1.

A new sanitation availability charge for all property owners, which will be fixed at 80% of the water availability charge, will kick in at the same time.

The increases will see the average household bill rise by about 9.5%.

Also, businesses, which pay the same rate as residents for water at present, will be charged a higher rate.

Jordaan’s second budget since taking over the city is the product of a lengthy exercise following weeks of public meetings.

It also comes less than two months before political parties are set to square up in the most contested local government election on August 3.

Before the budget was discussed and approved, the three former DA councillors who defected to the ANC last week – Nico du Plessis, Penny Naidoo and Brian Kivedo – waltzed into the meeting late and sat in their council seats.

This, while a group of angry DA members from Helenvale protested outside the Woolboard Exchange Building, calling them traitors for shifting their allegiances.

During a caucus break, the three councillors sang and danced with their new ANC comrades, before opting to sit in the public gallery as observers.