Gauteng govt mulls 'appropriate action' for budget-less Tshwane
Gauteng Co-operative Governance MEC Mzi Khumalo says his department will engage with the Finance MEC Jacob Mamabolo to establish the appropriate course of action for Tshwane.
This after the city council again failed to pass its adjustment budget on Friday.
The council was granted an extension after missing its two previous deadlines.
Only 107 councillors from the DA-led coalition voted in favour of the budget, but 108 votes were required to pass the budget.
The failure to pass the budget has now risked the city being placed under administration by the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance.
The city was placed under administration in 2020, however, the decision was later overturned by the Constitutional Court.
Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink believes there are deliberate attempts to put the city under administration.
In a statement released on Friday, Khumalo said his office will engage Mamabolo to establish the most appropriate course of action within the ambit of the Constitution.
Despite Friday's events, DA Tshwane caucus chair Jacqui Uys is confident that the city can avoid being put under administration.
"An adjustment budget is not a legislative requirement, so the city will now, unfortunately, be forced to go into unauthorised expenditure in order to ensure that service delivery still takes place. But the city did not miss any legislative requirements.
"But it will have major impacts on service delivery. There is no reason to put the city under administration as all legislative requirements have been met," said Uys.
ANC Gauteng spokesperson Lesego Makhubela said the party couldn't vote for an illegal budget.
"The ANC will not use its councillors in the city to rubber stamp on illegality, the Auditor General's statement said the city has misrepresented its finances and that has never happened before.
"So meaning that the budget that they presented, which was previously passed by the council that budget was a misrepresentation of the finances of Tshwane and that is illegal and the DA has not come to explain that illegality to the people of Tshwane.
"So when they present a budget, which also doesn't speak to the poor in the township, it doesn't speak to issues that address service delivery in those townships, they are not going to find the ANC rubberstamping on those things and we are very clear about that."
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