Note to Broadcasters: Please find attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Cornél Dreyer
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality is deeply concerned that the 2026 Adjustment Budget once again fails to resuscitate collapsing service delivery in Zeerust, particularly regarding water, electricity, roads, and sanitation.
Instead of offering relief to residents, the budget reflects continued underfunding, poor planning, and misplaced priorities that will leave communities without meaningful improvement for at least the next three years. While the municipality speaks of recovery, the numbers tell a different story — one of neglect and administrative comfort over community needs.
Water and sanitation infrastructure remain severely underfunded, despite widespread shortages, aging pipelines, and recurring sewer spillages in Zeerust.
There is no serious financial commitment to rehabilitate failing networks or to address the dysfunction of the Zeerust Waste Water Treatment Plant, which continues to contaminate the Karee Spruit and Klein Marico River. Both local and district budgets fail to allocate the funding required to stop this environmental and public-health disaster.
Electricity provision is equally neglected. The adjustment budget makes no meaningful provision to upgrade substations, improve network reliability, or secure on-site equipment and spares to shorten emergency repair times. As a result, residents and businesses will continue to suffer unreliable supply, damaging household stability and economic growth.
Road maintenance and connectivity have also been sidelined. Allocations remain stagnant, with no urgent resurfacing of critical routes linking Zeerust to surrounding villages. Poor roads increase transport costs, delay emergency services, and isolate communities.
Waste management continues to deteriorate as well. Funding for refuse removal and landfill management remains insufficient, with no expansion of fleet capacity. This perpetuates health risks, illegal dumping, and environmental degradation in Zeerust’s urban and peri-urban areas.
Instead of prioritising frontline services, the municipality continues to favour administrative expenditure. Salaries and council operations grow faster than direct service delivery, while no clear performance indicators are attached to infrastructure targets — weakening accountability and consequence manageme
As a result, Zeerust residents face a bleak outlook:
In 2025/26, there will be little to no improvement in water supply, electricity reliability, or road conditions.
In 2026/27, marginal revenue growth will be absorbed by debt servicing instead of community upliftment.
By 2027/28, without reform, the municipality will repeat the same cycle of compliance budgeting without tangible improvements to daily life
The DA in Ramotshere Moiloa believes the 2026 Adjustment Budget is a missed opportunity to restore confidence in local governance. Instead of reviving service delivery in Zeerust, it entrenches a pattern of neglect, mismanagement, and delay.
Zeerust residents deserve a municipality that invests in infrastructure, protects public health, supports local business, and delivers reliable basic services. The DA will continue to use every oversight mechanism available to push for a budget that puts people before bureaucracy and delivers real change on the ground.