No agenda, so adjustments budget meeting postponed

A Nelson Mandela Bay council meeting meant to discuss the special adjustments budget was postponed late on Tuesday to a date yet to be announced.

This was after the budget and treasury committee had debated for more than two hours on whether to continue with the meeting, before finally settling on reconvening in seven days.

The bone of contention — councillors had not received the early adjustments budget agenda, the only item up for discussion at Tuesday’s meeting.

CFO Selwyn Thys said the council was meant to have considered the early adjustments budget for adoption by the end of September.

“The acting city manager [Mandla George] has written to National Treasury indicating that the council will attend to the adoption of the budget by no later than October 9.

“For the moment we realise that we don’t have time for the different consultations.

“The acting [city manager] wrote to Treasury that we’ll be in a position with this at the end of the month,” Thys said.

Before the 11am virtual meeting could start, budget and treasury political head Mkhuseli Mtsila said he had received apologies from all seven ANC councillors who form part of the committee.

Mtsila said ANC councillors were attending a party caucus in preparation for a council meeting scheduled for Wednesday.

That meeting, too, was later postponed.

DA councillor Malcom Figg had proposed to postpone the committee meeting and reconvene next week because there was a council meeting on Wednesday.

However, municipal spokesperson Mamela Ndamase announced later on Tuesday that the special virtual council meeting had been postponed.

During the budget and treasury committee meeting EFF councillor Lukhanyo Mrara and economic development political boss, councillor Marlon Daniels, complained they had not received the agenda.

Daniels said several requests had been made to council speaker Buyelwa Mafaya to convene meetings — which, he said, she had ignored.

He said Mafaya should not be allowed to treat the metro like her spaza shop.

“She was even petitioned to convened meeting which she ignored, going against the rules of order.

“It’s clear the speaker doesn’t know whether she’s coming or going.

“Her office is dysfunctional.

“I only found out about this meeting today.

“We have to continue with the agenda of Friday’s meeting,” Daniels said.

DA councillor Andy Jordan said the budget and treasury committee was crucial and it was important for councillors going into council meetings to pass an item such as the early adjustments budget to see eye-to-eye.

George cautioned councillors about missing the National Treasury’s deadline to pass the early adjustments budget.

He said the council was meant to have passed the budget at the end of September.

“I’m afraid to write back to them [Treasury] now and say we request a further extension, with a threat ...

“I would want to request that we kindly consider the latest Friday to have that meeting,” George said.

The Treasury has threatened to invoke Section 216 of the constitution by clawing back nearly R3bn the metro had received for the IPTS because of its  failure to implement the recommendations of a forensic report that uncovered evidence of large-scale corruption.

The metro is now sitting with a R1.5bn hole in its budget after the Treasury did not transfer grants from the last quarter of the financial year, including the first half of the 2020/2021 financial year.

During Tuesday’s meeting, acting mayor Thsonono Buyeye said when it came to budget issues there seemed to be a pattern of the metro missing deadlines.

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