THE Richards Bay SPCA has called on KZN Finance MEC Belinda Scott to urgently intervene in talks with the City of uMhlathuze regarding the non-payment of more than R1-million to the organisation.
Despite continuous pleas for urgent financing, the cash-strapped SPCA says they have been ‘ignored’ even after sending the municipality a R1.4-million bill for services rendered for the past two financial years.
The follows Council resolution in May 2013, which resolved to acknowledge the SPCA’s as service providers to the City and no longer a grant-in-aid beneficiary.
However, after 14 months, both the Richards Bay and Empangeni SPCAs continue to operate the pounds and carry out nuisance call-outs on behalf of the City without being remunerated for services rendered.
For May alone, the Richards Bay SPCA said their operating expenses relating to stray and unwanted animals that were collected, housed, fed, treated and disposed of amounted to more than R87 000.
‘We have been treated with utter contempt these past 14 months,’ said Liz Wood of the Richards Bay SPCA.
‘Not a single account has been paid or even acknowledged despite us submitting invoices, monthly statements and our annual financial audit.
At the last meeting with the CFO and Community Services department, we were told there were no funds budgeted for the SPCA and they were in the process of going out on tender, which is totally ridiculous. We have now exhausted all our funding and donations and are unable to pay wages and feed animals this coming month,’ Wood said.
Responsibility
Empangeni SPCA’s Cheryl Whittaker said their primary role was to prevent the cruelty of animals.
‘The SPCA is not just about cats and dogs. We are doing enormous work for all animals including picking up cattle on the John Ross Parkway and main roads. We are responding to accident scenes and have been asked to remove carcasses.
‘This is important for public safety as the municipality is not attending to it. But this is not our responsibility and it costs money,’
‘We raise funds to carry out municipal duties for ratepayers and it’s not fair!’ said Whittaker.
uMhlathuze Municipal Manager Dr NJ Sibelo said the SPCA had not been enlisted as a service provider.
