Sarah Baartman budget compiled and approved under difficult circumstances

DISTRICT NEWS - The Sarah Baartman District Municipality (SBDM) Council yesterday approved the municipality’s 2026/2027 budget.

Mayor Deon de Vos told council that the budget is presented under unique and most difficult times due to the recent severe weather events.

"Sarah Baartman District Municipality finds itself engulfed by major climate change incidents taking place only a few months apart," he said.

In January fires caused damage in four of its local municipalities and the recent rains caused havoc in the district with many communities left inaccessible and without electricity almost 20 days after the incident.

"It is worth mentioning that the agricultural sector has suffered a heavy blow together with their workforce."

De Vos said SBDM has approached the Department of Transport and Eskom and progress is being made to restore the damage caused.

Mayor Deon de Vos of the Sarah Baartman District Municipality

Budget 2026/27

An operational budget of R183 million and a capital budget of R5.4 million were adopted for the new financial year starting on 1 July.

In a statement, Communications Officer Natasha Peterson says the main sources of sustainable own discretionary revenue include the Equitable Share, which incorporates the Levy Replacement Grant and amounts to R80.6 million for the year.

Additional revenue sources include:

R12 million in interest revenue,
R100 000 from rental income,
R5.2 million from conditional grants listed in DORA,
R65 million in grants from sector departments,
R3.5 million in management fees from the Provincial Department of Human Settlements.

The balance of the budget will be funded from the municipality’s accumulated surplus.

The total project budget for 2026/2027 is R39.7 million, allocated across key development areas, including:

R600 000 for the Office of the Speaker for community engagements and outreach programmes.
R200 000 for the youth fund to address issues of youth unemployment.
R800 000 to support two learners from the district who are currently studying in China at Hangzhou Normal University through SBDM's partnership with China.
R200 000 respectively for women, disability empowerment, and the implementation of the District’s HIV/AIDS plan.
R1 million for the development of business plans for local municipalities in the district.
R1.306 million from the EPWP grant for local projects in community services.
R65 million from the Provincial Department of Human Settlements for the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme across local municipalities.
R7.5 million for fire service contributions and R1 million for disaster risk assessments.
R3 million to assist local municipalities with water services through WSA support.
R2.732 million under the RRAMS Conditional Grant for the continuation of the Rural Roads Asset Management System project.
R5.610 million to two local municipalities for delivering Environmental Health services on behalf of the District.
R6.550 million for tourism marketing, promotion, and development, including support for creative industries.
R600 000 for Local Economic Development initiatives, supporting SMMEs.
R425 000 for Technical Town Planning initiatives.
R2.3 million for Trade and Investment project development and packaging.
R2 million for municipal audit support initiatives to local municipalities.
R100 000 has been earmarked for job evaluation operations.

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