Funds for urgent sanitation unused

A whopping R182m earmarked for much-needed services in Polokwane could be returning to the National Treasury unspent.

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Johannesburg - A whopping R182 million earmarked for much-needed services in the City of Polokwane could be returning to the National Treasury unspent.

This in spite of the overwhelming sanitation backlog, which the council admitted had taken away the dignity of residents in rural settlements.

The municipality stated in its latest integrated development plan (IDP) that more than half the residents didn’t have adequate sanitation.

“Sanitation is about dignity. Areas without proper sanitation systems give rise to waterborne diseases like cholera, diarrhoea and typhoid,” the municipality’s IDP document for the current financial year stated.

The municipality said it required more than R500million if the “huge backlog of sanitation” were to be eradicated.

“The backlog figure includes 73 115 pit latrines that are not constructed according to the approved standards and, as such, (they pose) a risk of waterborne diseases.”

The document stated that about 7 000 households in the area don’t have access to piped water. But even when confronted by the pressing service delivery log jam, the municipality seemed to be dragging its feet.

Its spokeswoman, Tidimalo Chuene, confirmed on Wednesday that the unspent money had been allocated to projects that should have been implemented in the last financial year that ended in June.

Chuene said the council had asked the National Treasury to roll over the funds to the current financial year.

“Contractors are on site and the council is confident that the unspent funds will in all probability be considered positively by the National Treasury since the municipality met all the requirements of the approvals,” she said.

Chuene declined to give neither details on the projects in question nor the reasons why the allocated funds had not been spent.

“The information we provided to you is sufficient; any other information will compromise us.”

DA councillor in Polokwane David Setjie said he had written to executive mayor Thembi Nkadimeng, urging her to establish an internal probe and take action against lax officials.

He said the failure to spend the grants was an affront to people who relied on the municipality to provide basic services. “The municipality has a huge service delivery backlog; many residents are still sharing water with animals.”

The EFF said water shortages were a ticking time bomb. “A caring government will never return grants to the National Treasury when our people need water,” it added.

moloko.moloto@inl.co.za

The Star