Budget claims 'outright lies'

2008-03-27 16:26

Cape Town - Provincial government's claims that the City of Cape Town was underspending on its budget were "outright lies", Mayor Helen Zille said on Thursday.

"I am deeply concerned at this pattern of dishonesty coming from the provincial government," she told a city council meeting.

"While we must acknowledge where vacancies have an impact on the spending of our budgets, it is equally important for us to expose the series of untruths, in fact outright lies, from provincial ministers and the premier himself."

She said local government MEC Richard Dyantyi had claimed the city had underspent its municipal infrastructure grant by R46m.

Zille said the allegations were entirely without foundation.

The R46m was for bulk infrastructure at the N2 Gateway project.

The city was ready to pay out the money but could not because state-owned housing developer Thubelisha could not provide the city with contracts and invoices required by law.

Referring to the N2 Gateway News published by Thubelisha, Zille accused the developer of "publishing ANC propaganda in glossy publications at taxpayer's expense".

"Government bodies that are supposed to be apolitical, like Thubelisha Homes, have become involved in misinformation campaigns," she said.

Zille said transport MEC Marius Fransman's statement that only 60% of Cape Town's transport budget had been spent, was also false.

Of the R158m the province had transferred to the city since 2002/3, R124.5m had already been spent and the balance of R33.6m was committed to transport projects along the Klipfontein corridor, she said.

Zille challenged what she said was a claim by Premier Ebrahim Rasool that the city would underspend the housing allocation from province by R150m this year.

"In fact we are projected to spend about 90% of our R450m allocation for housing," Zille said.

- SAPA