MONDAY, 3.00PM
THE Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council took another blow at the weekend when the Democratic Party and two independent councillors prevented the adoption of the Eastern Metropolitan Substructure’s 1997/98 budget.
After Johannesburg’s Northern, Western and Southern Substructures successfully passed their budgets at the weekend, it is now likely that a legal battle is looming, or that Gauteng Premier Tokyo Sexwale will step in to push the budget through. The Eastern council busget was refrred bak to the executive committee on Saturday, but it is unlikely that the DP will reconsider its position.
The DP’s main objection to the budget revolves around the Eastern council’s anticipated surplus of R401-million, which it is obliged to hand to the GJMC for redistribution to other councils under its wing.
Sexwale will walk a tightrope in trying to solve the impasse. If he fails to push the budget through, he has the power to fire all the councillors and install an administrator.
The Eastern council has been at the centre of a storm over large rates increases, with residents of the upmarket Sandton suburb boycotting rates payments, and several large property owners in the area having unsuccessfully challenged the rates increases in the high court.