{"id":97532,"date":"2025-05-08T08:26:42","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T06:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=97532"},"modified":"2025-05-08T08:26:42","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T06:26:42","slug":"concerns-mount-over-capital-budget-spending-as-ethekwini-residents-endure-infrastructure-failures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/concerns-mount-over-capital-budget-spending-as-ethekwini-residents-endure-infrastructure-failures\/","title":{"rendered":"Concerns Mount Over Capital Budget Spending as eThekwini Residents Endure Infrastructure Failures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n3-minute read
\n08 March 2025 | 08:09 CAT<\/p>\n

\"\"

eThikwini in crisis – a city on the brink. (File photo, Daily Maverick)<\/p><\/div>\n

Persistent service delivery failures in eThekwini have sparked outrage, as DA Ward 23 Councillor Alicia Kissoon raises alarm over the municipality’s handling of its capital budget. Following the March Finance Committee meeting, Kissoon painted a concerning picture of underinvestment, calling into question the city’s commitment to its residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day I\u2019m hearing in different areas there\u2019s water outages, electricity outages, people are waiting days to get electricity restored,\u201d Kissoon told Radio Islam International<\/a>. \u201cThe priority for the administration is simply not enough for our residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her biggest concern? A stark mismatch between rates increases and deteriorating services. Despite rising costs for ratepayers, only seven to eight cents of every rand<\/em> is reportedly going towards infrastructure upgrades. \u201cThat\u2019s just unacceptable,\u201d Kissoon said, arguing that the focus should shift from short-term fixes to long-term investment. \u201cWe need to not fix immediate problems, but we need to invest so we don\u2019t have these problems going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Figures from the Finance Committee revealed only 7.8% of the budget was spent on capital projects. According to Kissoon, this translates directly to prolonged hardships for residents, including burst pipes, broken traffic lights, and lack of basic sanitation in informal settlements.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s why your potholes are still there,\u201d she added. \u201cWe\u2019re literally just putting a plaster on big issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s use of grant funding is also under scrutiny. While documentation shows 96% of grant funds allocated, Kissoon warns this figure is misleading. \u201cIt\u2019s on paper. It doesn\u2019t match what\u2019s happening on the ground,\u201d she said, pointing to internal transfers and prepayments that inflate reported expenditure. Actual spending, she asserts, sits closer to just over 50%.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that funding is not finding its way to the ground\u2026 then what\u2019s the point?\u201d Kissoon asked, stressing the urgent need for transparency and accountability.<\/p>\n

As infrastructure continues to fail residents, the city\u2019s financial decisions remain under the spotlight, demanding both immediate action and long-term reform.<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> to the full interview on Your World Today with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie and Councillor Alicia Kissoon here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read 08 March 2025 | 08:09 CAT Persistent service delivery failures in eThekwini have sparked outrage, as DA Ward 23 Councillor Alicia Kissoon raises alarm over the municipality’s handling of its capital budget. Following the March Finance Committee meeting, Kissoon painted a concerning picture of underinvestment, calling into question the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":97533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-05-08-082158.jpg?fit=627%2C316&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-pn6","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 11:49:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}