Report On The Council Meeting Of 18 June 2009 - Clr Dee White

Finance
• The DA queried the way in which the Members of the Group Audit
Committee were selected as the best scoring candidate at the interviews was not appointed
• After constant calls for the resumption of the publication of the
Monthly Revenue Collection Rates, those for January and February 2009 are published. The DA is seriously concerned as the budget is based on a 95% collection rate and the reports reveal a rate of 60% which represents a monthly shortfall of about R100m. The reports itself are also problematic as the figures given in the body of the report differs from those in the tables.
• The reasons given for the Debt Write-off of four separate accounts
totaling R667 360 is also cause for concern as they point towards bad administration and debt collection.
• Reports on the Management Information on the Year to Date
Expenditure of the Capital Budget for the Months Ending January and February respectively are published for information. Of a total of R6, 5 b budgeted for Capital Expenditure for the 2008/09 financial year, R2, 2 b
(40%) and R2, 8 b (44%) had been spent by the two respective month ends.
• According to the report on the Performance of the Operating Budget
for the period ending January 2009, the actual year to date operating performance compared to budget for the period resulted in a net operating deficit of R59, 5m. This is due to the very low revenue collection as represented by an under recovery of R1, 3 b (9%) while under spending of the expenditure categories amounted to R75, 1 m.
• The Targeted Beneficiaries Unit, which ressorts under Economic
Development gave a progress report. While the targeted beneficiaries are supposed to include ex-combatants, people with disability, youth and young women, only ex-combatants have been targeted to date.
• Tariff Charges for Water Services and Sewerages and Sanitation
Services are corrected.
• R10 m is reallocated from Eskom grants for the installation of the
electrical reticulation of Cosmo City.
• The reallocation of some R1, 5m to the Metropolitan Trading
Company's capital budget is approved.
• Grant funding of R4m committed by the Development Bank of South
Africa for the Conceptual Financial and Business Modelling for the Decking Technology of the Rail Lines Gulch, stretching from Doornfontein to Fordsburg, is accepted.
• Social Funding Allocations (social responsibility category for
2008/09) are approved for instances that qualify for rates rebates.
• R1, 9 m is accepted from the Department of Arts and Culture for
the 2008/09 Heritage Day Celebrations.

Policies, Frameworks and By-Laws
• The Revised Property Rates Policy and the Property Rates By-Laws
are finally adopted.
• The 400 learnerships which are included in the target of 150 000
jobs envisaged in the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP): Policy and Implementation Framework is very low.
• Although welcomed, the Export Promotion Policy of the City has
weaknesses in its programme such as the lack of any means to track
quantifiable exports. There is also the possibility that this is a
duplication of work already done by instances such as the Johannesburg
Chambers of Commerce and Industry which has a very good track
record of SMME's
• The DA's request that the Investment Incentive Policy Framework
for the City of Johannesburg be withdrawn as it was of a very low standard and thus unacceptable, was rejected.
• An Urban Agri-Business Strategy and Implementation Plan, whereby
all the land portions situated below power line servitudes is made
available for crop farming by emerging farmers, is approved.
• A study to Assess Economic Projects and Programmes in other
spheres of Government and Bordering Municipalities to Determine the Possibility of Developing Synergies with the City, is approved and endorsed.
• The 2010 Office is very slow in putting measures in place to
comply with FI FA requirements. As late as half way through the
Confederations Cup it requested the approval for the Temporary
Outdoor Advertising Campaign by the CoJ for the forthcoming Confederations
Cup and 2010 Fifa World Cup. This item caused a dilemma for the
City as it cannot legally ask for an exemption to relax its own by-laws. It
was to prevent situations like this that the DA had called
for an oversight committee when the 2010 committee was established. This
was however denied and the committee was put under the auspices of
the Mayor.
• The revised Informal Trading By-laws are Approved and Adopted for
Promulgation. It will be difficult to implement them as they contain questionable aspects such as trading in parks in residential areas and at schools.
• In an attempt to eliminate washing hanging in the public eye,
especially at flats, the Public Roads and Miscellaneous By-Laws:
prohibition of display of household clothes and fabric
other than items for sale, is amended.

Land Matters
• In accordance with a report on Progress on the Sale of Council
Owned Shops in the Greater Soweto Area some 70 of the 1 500 Council owned shops will be advertised and thereafter submitted to the bid evaluation committee for the identification of the successful purchasers.
• The progress on Orlando Ekhaya is reported.
• An amendment by the DA, that the income received from the
residential component of the alienation of erven 2,3,4 and 5, Victoria Ext
3 and the long term lease of erf 1, Victoria ext 3 (part of
Paterson Park) by public tender be ploughed back into Paterson Park, was accepted.
• Various other alienations as well as a donation of various
portions of the Farm Randjiesfontein to the Department of Public Transport,
Roads and Works for Gautrain, are approved.

Business Plans: 2009/10
As in the past, the budget was approved (May 2009) before the business plans for the various departments were approved (July 2009). This means that budgets were allocated randomly by the Budget Office, the Mayoral Committee and a few senior officials and once again councillors were stripped of their oversight function. As they stand, the business plans were also not discussed in depth by the section 79 committees.

Salient issues:
• The Community Development Department cannot carry out its day to
day duties as there are insufficient funds with which to meet the needs of the community. The very small budget is not enough to cater for all the activities of such a big and important Department.
• Two different credit ratings for the City - AA and A+ - are
mentioned in the Finance Business Plan and it is not clear which one is
correct. The processes for the City's supply chain management have
not yet been defined, while it is also unclear whether the accounting
policies of the New Fiscal Municipalities Act, which is
effective from 1 July, are to be used.
• The establishment of an Economic Development Department, separate
from Finance is welcomed. Regeneration of the Inner City has practically come to a standstill over the past two years as nothing happened there since the Better Buildings Programme was terminated. The Inner City Property Scheme, according to which regeneration should be resumed, is introduced.
• The 2009/10 Revenue and Customer Relations Management Department
Business Plan is very short on detail and concrete action and does not address the department's core function of revenue collection.
• The business plan for the Johannesburg Tourism Company is unsound
and with less than a year before the 2010 Soccer, action is needed.
• The Johannesburg Fresh produce Market is an asset to the City.
More attention must however be paid to Credit Control.
• The Johannesburg Property Company remains the epitome of lost
opportunities. Hopefully the company will gain momentum under the t he new management team.
• The Metropolitan Trading Company does not have manpower or budget,
but is forging ahead with the proposed linear markets. The organizational review and design is still in progress and the company is not yet prepared to take over the management of Rea Vaya.
• Grey areas such as the collection of revenue and the management of
housing stock as well as the lack of an asset register is not included in
the business plan for the Johannesburg Social Housing
Company. The housing allocation process is poor as there is no list to work from.
• There is no correlation between the line items of Budget,
Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Business Plan for the Infrastructure
Department , including Johannesburg Water, City Power and Pikitup.
• City Power has given no assurances that it intends to address
and/or solve the problem of life line tariffs for multi-complex units. ANC
Mayoral Committee Member for Infrastructure eloquently
supported this non-intention by stating: "…everything worked out perfectly in what we planned."
• The targets of the Transport Department's 2008/09 business plan
have not been met: the intended kilometres of gravel roads have not been
tarred, while only 15km of the BRT has been completed compared to
the 150km in the 5 year plan. It is therefore uncertain how the intended
process of speeding up the delivery process will be
sustained. This department has also not yet issued a report on the
negotiations with the taxi industry vis-à-vis the BRT.
• The question regarding the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA)
business plan is what happens to the Johannesburg roads as there is not
sufficient financial provision for road maintenance. In order to
do proper road maintenance, the DA suggests that special restatements teams
be used, that contractors whose work is not up to standard
be fined and that all road works be supervised properly.
• The Business Plan for the Executive Mayor of the City of
Johannesburg is a vital document. There is however, no provision for
oversight of this office.

Quarterly Reports
The reports for the third quarter of the 2008/09 financial year, (January to March 2009) were available for oversight within 2 months after the end of the quarter. The DA's repeated requests for quicker presentation of the
reports have thus been successful. As the DA addressed most of the
concerns arising from the reports in either the sec 79 committees or in the debates on the business plans, the ANC chairmen of the various departments used the opportunity to sing the praises of their departments. Some of the DA's concerns included:

• According to the Report on the Monitoring and Evaluation of
Capital Projects Implementation by Municipal Owned Entities, City Power overspent by R100m – an amount that was funded by the City. Pikitup has at the end of the quarter only spent 20% of its available capital while JRA's expenditure of its allocation for storm water allocation runs at 35%.
• The DA reminded the newly appointed MMC for Community Development,
Cllr Bafana Sitholo, that that department functioned well because the former MMC always listened to the DA. His reply and also his maiden speech as MMC: "I shall look at those things. My door is open," should be recorded in the annals of the CoJ for posterity.
• ANC Cllr S Mogase, chairperson of the Finance Sec 79 Committee
admitted that that department worked under strain, due to the difficult
financial position of the City. This statement contradicts all the
assurances regarding the City's financial position given regularly by
Finance MMC, Cllr Parks Tau. Worrying issues include: no decision
regarding the debtors' book has been made, financial reporting in terms of
revenue received is not done, there are still many problems
concerning the rates' policy, wasteful expenditure and the collection of arrears.
• The DA maintains that it is more important for the Housing
Department to deliver quality RDP houses rather than bigger quantities of
badly built houses.
• City Power's projects are still badly managed and the company
continues to ask for the goal posts to be moved, rather than look at ways
to improve its service. The level of complaints regarding
non-working street lights is still unacceptably high.
• Pikitup's crushing plants are to become fully operational and it
will then be possible to drop builder's rubble at garden sites.

Overseas Visits
A report was received on the Study Tour by the Community Development Section 79 Committee to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

COMPILED BY : COUNCILLOR LAURETTE VAN ZIJL (082 3300 593)

FOR COMMENTS CONTACT : COUNCILLOR VICTOR PENNING ON: 082 490 1171