On a point of clarity

Colin Arendse, Wynberg

Ward councillor William Akim implies in the article that “the City fully understands that there is a national housing problem”.

The beauty of our democracy allows for three tiers of government being national, provincial and local (which is the City of Cape Town).

When the national finance minister delivers his budget in Parliament, he effectively dishes out a slice of the pie to every province and municipality and the administration of the day is then responsible for delivering basic services in the area where they govern.

The Skeemsaam informal settlement is situated in Parkwood which is geographically situated in the City of Cape Town under the current administration of the DA.

Now, according to a CapeTalk report on May 6 2016, the City had spent only R184 million of its R430 million housing budget, i.e. R246 million of the total housing budget allocated to the City by National Treasury was still unspent a month before the financial year-end in 2016. Not many people know this but, whenever a particular budget allocation is not spent, the money must be returned to the fiscus.

Our local DA councillors must stop referring to a “national problem” as the ANC is not in control of the budget of the City of Cape Town. The DA and their councillors are constitutionally bound to deliver basic services and to keep residents informed, truthfully, of all civic matters affecting our wards.

Councillor William Akim responds: I didn’t mention that national government are to blame for the housing crisis , all I said is that housing is a national challenge and crisis in South Africa.