The Greater Tzaneen Municipality (GTM) has no problem sending their 69 Councillors and their managers on all-expenses paid trips but they pay little to no attention to the needs of important organizations such as the SPCA.
According to information we received from a source within the municipality this week, the GTM budgets a total of only R200 000 annually towards the local SPCA. This equates to just R16 000 per month which the Letaba SPCA needs to use to pay staff wages, diesel for their vehicles used to pick up the strays and pay for housing and food for those strays for the duration of their time at the pound.
Last month the GTM spent over R800 000 on accommodation and meals for their 69 Councillors and managers to attend a three-day workshop at the Protea Hotel The Ranch just outside Polokwane.
This was a meeting to discuss the budget. It could have been held at any one of the venues in Tzaneen capable of hosting large parties at a fraction of the cost, and in fact, the delegates could have done what every member of the working class does and packed their own lunch.
There would not have been any need for them to sleep out as they all reside within the municipality, and they would not need to be reimbursed for their travel either.
This not withstanding the countless other trips they spend millions on each year, and the overtime they pay for repairs to their inadequate infrastructure.
Bulletin has it on good authority that the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality pays R50 000 per month to the Phalaborwa SPCA.
Every SPCA has a jurisdictional area wherein they operate, however, the local Municipality in each town is responsible for complaints regarding stray animals, which include animals in the street, animals causing a nuisance, or animals attacking people and other animals.
The local Municipality in each town is also responsible for the collection of dead animals in public areas.
In both instances mentioned above, the municipality usually contacts the SPCA who then intervenes by removing the animal. When a stray animal is collected by the SPCA inspector, it is taken to the pound where there is a pound period.
The pound period is mainly determined by the local municipal bylaws for animals. According to these local laws the SPCA can either euthanize or adopt the animal out after the pound period. Pound periods can vary between SPCAs from 5 to 14 days.
In other words, the municipality will not be able to enforce their bylaws regarding the stray or problem animals, without the SPCA.
We have received no word on this matter from the GTM’s communications office, but we have heard from a Councillor that they are “fighting to have the amount allocated to the Letaba SPCA increased.”
