The Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality (EMLM) appointed a new chief financial officer (CFO) who, like others who have come and gone, plans to turn around the financial situation of the bankrupt institution.
The CFO, Paul Mahlasela, who assumed his duties on March 15, indicated that one of his strategies to assist the municipality with its finances was to accelerate and intensify its revenue collection efforts.
“One such strategy includes our revenue enhancement plans which are directly linked to the installation of the electricity smart meters. This will help maximise revenue collection.
“We need to collect as much revenue as we can from the smart meter initiative. We also need to intensify collection from others sources of revenue like property rates and refuse removal. This is why it is important that people, businesses and government departments need to pay what is due to the municipality because that is where our money is,” said Mahlasela.
The CFO indicated that for the revenue collection to thrive, the municipality first needed to fix its billing system which, he said, played an integral part on payments.
Mahlasela said he intended to meet the EMLM finance committee on a weekly basis to discuss cash flow matters to ensure the municipality adhered to set requirements and not exceed expenditure.
“Another important aspect is to look at how we spend the municipal infrastructure grant. The intention is to look at the procurement plan to ensure there are no funds taken back to treasury. Our service delivery is not the best, so we do not want to lose any money that could be used to assist the people of Enoch Mgijima as a result of non-expenditure,” he said.
Mahlasela is a holder of BCom accounting and post graduate supply chain and financial management degrees, and has a decade worth of experience as a CFO.
Before coming to EMLM he worked at the Ngqushwa Local Municipality as a CFO from 2009 to 2014 and left to work as deputy CFO at the Alfred Nzo District Municipality until 2018.
He worked as CFO at the Sakhisizwe Local Municipality before joining Enoch Mgijima.
