Committee reports on termination of intervention in municipalities and Committee programme
NCOP Cooperative Governance & Public Administration
21 November 2011
Chairperson: Mr M Mokgobi (ANC, Limpopo)
Meeting Summary
A content advisor reviewed three sets of report recommendations on municipalities inThe Committee heard of the four municipalities in
There was noticeable progress at the
Members voiced unhappiness that a number of points they raised with regard to the Thabo Mofutsanyana municipality were omitted in their recommendations. The Committee agreed that the recommendations specify that the Department should urgently institute an investigation led by the Hawks. The report was adopted with corrections.
The Chairperson had received a confidential letter of complaint from
Meeting report
Introduction
The Chairperson said the Committee was not going to be long and invited a content advisor to lead the meeting on three sets of report recommendations that were made with regards to municipalities in
The Content Advisor said that a meeting with the provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) was held on 24 October 2011. It was resolved that the province needed to intervene at Umhlabuyalingana, Indaka, Okhahlamba and Msunduzi. Although Umhlabuyalingana was in a position to resume functioning independently, the other three still needed intervention until the end of December.
He read the Committee's recommendations:
The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) should approve the termination of intervention in
The NCOP should approve the extension of interventions in terms of Section 139 (1)(b) of the Constitution in Indaka, Okhahlamba and
That the KZN Provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs should table the forensic investigation report to the NCOP, once it had been approved by the Msunduzi Municipal Council; and that the Committee, in collaboration with the KZN provincial legislature's portfolio committee, should conduct a joint follow-up visit to the respective municipalities during the first term of 2012/13 financial year to verify the extent of progress.
The report was adopted.
Thembisile Hani local municipality,
The Content Advisor said that the province had come to Parliament to brief the Committee on the progress that was noticeable at the Thembisile Hani local municipality since the intervention.
The Committee’s recommendations were that:
The NCOP should approve the termination of intervention in Thembisile Hani local municipality.
A joint follow-up visit to the municipality, by the Committee and provincial legislature's portfolio committee should be conducted in the first term of 2012.
The report was adopted.
The Content Advisor said the Committee had observed that Free State Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs had made progress in providing technical support to municipality. The had Committee also observed that the decision to terminate the intervention had received the support of the municipal council.
The recommendations were that:
The NCOP should approve the termination of intervention in the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality
The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Free State, should institute a independent forensic investigation led by the Hawks to investigate irregularities on the collection of debts and professional services rendered on behalf of the District Municipality
The Department should table the forensic outcome of the investigation report to the NCOP, once completed by the Hawks
A joint follow-up visit by the Committee and Free State legislature's portfolio committee should be conducted in the first term of 2012/13
Discussion
Mr A Matila (ANC, Gauteng) said that there was an omission in these recommendations. The Committee had recommended that the issue be investigated by both the Hawks and the Public Protector. It was agreed that because of the problems in the
Mr D Bloem (COPE,
Mr D Joseph (DA,
The Chairperson said he was concerned by the number of omissions from the recommendations. When Members adopted minutes, they needed not discuss again what they had already discussed, but address minor changes that were needed in reports. The management must improve on its ability to take minutes, so as to reflect what the Members said.
The recommendations on
The Committee agreed that the recommendation needed to read:
The national department should institute an investigation led by the Hawks into irregularities on the collection of debt.
Members requested that the corrected report be forwarded to them so as to ensure everything was recorded as adopted.
The report was adopted with corrections.
Confidential letter of complaint
The Chairperson said he had received a confidential letter of complaint from the Executive Mayor of
Mr Matila said there had been complaints about the MEC not attending meetings of that municipality despite being invited. Workers were inexplicably suspended by the municipality; there definitely were challenges.
Mr Joseph wanted to know if the Committee could mandate the Chairperson to act with immediacy and contact the MEC and Municipality to get the finer details. This needed not be dragged into next year, but should be acted upon in the next seven days.
Mr Bloem disagreed, and said the MEC should not be contacted as that would cause tension and lead to vilification. The Committee needed to deal with the letter.
The Chairperson suggested that the letter be forwarded to Advocate P Nel and Mr M Mahlangu (ANC,
The Committee agreed to obtain advice by the following week.
Committee programme
The Committee adopted its programme for the first term of 2012/13.
The meeting was adjourned.
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