uMngeni Municipality Pays Off R10 Million Debt, Mayor Chris Pappas Says It’s a Good Milestone

• The uMngeni Municipality has paid off a R10,4 million debt to the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA)
• The Democratic Alliance (DA) managed to make the payment without hampering service delivery in the area
• uMngeni Mayor Chris Pappas told Briefly News that the municipality's goal for the next five years remains unchanged

PIETERMARITZBURG - The uMngeni Municipality, under the leadership of the Democratic Alliance (DA), has paid off an enormous debt to the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) without hampering service delivery in the area.

A sum of R10,4 million was borrowed in 2008 to build municipal offices. Acting chief financial officer Baneli Msomi advised councillors at an executive committee meeting that settling the loan would prevent the municipality from paying more interest.

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She said that another R5 million that was set aside for the DBSA loan would be refunded to the municipality.

Speaking exclusively to Briefly News, uMngeni Mayor Chris Pappas said making the municipality debt free was a good milestone and said:

“It means we have managed to unsaddle ourselves from a debt incurred to cover operational costs. We can now spend future generated funds on service delivery and capital projects.”

Pappas said that the goal for the next five years remains unchanged.

“We must get the basics right and undo the decline of 24 years of poor governance. Infrastructure is our main focus,” added the mayor.

According to The Witness, the money that would have been used to fund the loans will be directed to improving service delivery in the area.

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The municipality can also claim a larger sum of the tax revenue raised at the national level by the South African Revenue Service.

DA KwaZulu-Natal leader Francois Rodgers told IOL that in 11 months into governance, residents had saved R450 000 in interest this year. He said the DA is fulfilling its promises to citizens in the 2021 elections.

Rodgers said the municipality had brought meaning to the words: “where the DA governs, we govern well”. He added that uMngeni is testimony that the DA gets things done.

Citizens praise the work done in the municipality:

@ChadDaSilva said:

“Well done DA. Thank you for the amazing service delivery.”

@FedixM commented:

“Good for them. Maybe the ANC can learn a thing or two from this, more especially the guys who goes around making debts for our kids.”

“We inherited a mess”: DA mayoral elect Chris Pappas says it will take time to fix uMngeni municipality

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In a related matter, Briefly News also reported the Democratic Alliance managed to overthrow the African National Congress and win the majority vote at uMnegeni Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. This will be the first time the political organisation will govern a municipality in the province.

Briefly News had a conversation with the uMngeni Municipality mayoral-elect Chris Pappas who explained what the DA plans to achieve at the municipality in the next five years and what their challenges will be.

Pappas says the first order of business when it comes to governance in uMngeni is to instil the same working culture the DA has when it comes to running municipalities, which is a culture of hard work, sacrifice and dedication.

Source: Briefly News