Vryheid - The Zululand district municipality says a large chunk of its R1.5 billion budget for the 2023/2024 financial year will go to resolving its water backlog, while another large chunk will go to projects to empower women and youth and R1.2 million will be spent on the medical needs of its 36 traditional leaders.
The municipality’s mayor, Thulasizwe Buthelezi, on Saturday told residents of Mondlo on that the council was aware of the perennial challenge of water and that resolving was their top priority.
Buthelezi took the budget to the public for the first time after it was passed on Wednesday this week amid contestation by the ANC and the NFP that it was illegally passed.
The two parties contested that the presence of NFP councillor, Bethuel Nxumalo, instead of Sibusiso Nkosi, rendered the process illegal.
They also claim that they were locked out of the process, a claim denied by Buthelezi.
The contest did not stop Buthelezi from going to Vryheid to sell the budget to the people of Vryheid (Abaqulusi), one of the five local municipalities that make up the Zululand district municipality anchored in Ulundi.
“We have tabled a budget of R1.5 billion and it is mainly dedicated to providing water in all the 95 wards that make up the Zululand district municipality.
“The same budget is mainly dedicated to projects to empower women and for that, we have set aside R30 million and that money will be dedicated to the development of young people.
“Another large sum is dedicated to poverty alleviation programmes within our district,” Buthelezi said on the sidelines of the roadshow.
Buthelezi also announced that they are looking at windmill power to keep their infrastructure running during the time of load shedding.
“We will now install boreholes with windmills because the challenge of load shedding is now forcing us not to rely on generators but to come up with other plans to supply water,” he said.
On the issue of providing their 36 traditional leaders with medical aid, Buthelezi said they are the first district municipality to do that in KwaZulu-Natal.
“We have allocated R1.2 million to cater for medical aid for amakhosi (chiefs), throughout KwaZulu-Natal, only Zululand municipality has medical aid for them.
“That’s because we respect our traditional leaders, they have to be treated with the dignity they deserve.
“Our traditional leaders should have the best medical care so that they can efficiently lead their people,” Buthelezi said at the budget roadshow.
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