Makana Local Municipality Section 139 intervention; Committee Oversight Reports on Ventersdorp & Tswaing Local Municipalities; Disaster Management Amendment Bill: negotiating mandates

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed all the Members and tabled the Disaster Management Amendment Bill for consideration of each Province.

Consideration of negotiating mandates on the Disaster Management Amendment Bill 
Kwazulu-Natal Legislature


Mr L Nzimande (ANC, KwaZulu Natal), presented the KZN Mandate, and added that the Province supported the Bill subject to the consideration and consolidation of the following concerns.

The Bill was not clear on the location of the Disaster Management Unit within municipalities. The function was placed under Corporate Service, Technical Services, Community Services, the Planning Department or the Office of the Municipal Manager, depending on the municipality. The Bill was not clear on what funding mechanisms would assist municipalities to render the function. Some municipalities were referring to it as an unfunded function. The Bill referred to the involvement of traditional leaders, yet it was silent on their role, functions and responsibilities. The Bill did not speak to the capacity of the current Disaster Management Practitioners on understanding the impact of the climate change.

Free-State Legislature 


Mr G Michalakis (DA, Free State) presented the Free-State Mandate. Besides a few recommendations on the wording of some sections, the Province voted in favour of the Bill.

Mpumalanga 


Mr M Mhlanga (ANC, Mpumalanga) presented the Mpumalanga Mandate. Besides a few proposals on regulating matters and clarifications on the allocation of the budget, the Province supported the Bill.

Limpopo 


Mr S Thobejane (ANC, Limpopo) presented the Limpopo Mandate, and besides a few recommendations to be considered, the Province voted in favour of the Bill.

Western Cape 


Mr D Ximbi (ANC, Western Cape), presented the Western Cape Mandate. The Province supported the Bill subject to the following proposed amendments. The role of District Municipalities and Local Municipalities should be clarified with regards to disaster management. The implementation of the Amendment Bill should be costed so that the financial implications of implementation could be known upfront, and the funding model, through which the various aspects of disaster management would be funded, should be clarified. Provisions should be made for the expedited repayment of disaster risk recovery funds, and for the transfer of ring-fenced funding from National Government to Local Government for the purpose of disaster risk reduction and mitigation, and disaster management capacitation. That section 5(a)(vi) in the Principal Act should be retained in its current form. 



North West


Ms T Mokwele (EFF, North West) presented the North West Mandate. The Mandate stated that “The delegation representing the Province of the North West in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) was conferred with the authority and mandate to negotiate in favour of the Bill.” However, Ms Mokwele did not support the Bill and said that she was not going to be part of the agreement since the Mandate that was submitted was not a true reflection of the Province. The EFF Members left the meeting.

Gauteng
Mr J Julius (DA, Gauteng) presented the Gauteng Mandate, and besides a few recommendations, the Province supported the Bill.

Northern Cape 


Ms G Manolope (ANC, Northern Cape) presented the Northern Cape Mandate, and besides a few concerns on the allocation of the budget, location and capacity (both human and financial), the Province voted in favour of the Bill.

Eastern Cape


Ms T Wana (ANC) presented the Eastern Cape Mandate, and besides a few concerns on the allocation of the budget, the Province voted in favour of the Bill.

Presentation on Makana Intervention 


Mr Jongisizwe Gomomo, Administrator, Makana Local Municipality, briefed the Committee on the Intervention in Makana. The intervention was a result of various challenges. Institutional challenges included vacancies in key positions, a lack of capacity, and the skills audit. Financially, the municipality had fours disclaimers, creditors in excess of R100 million (Eskom was owed in excess of R65 million), and a below average collection rate of 66 percent. Governance challenges included the ability to exercise oversight, the effectiveness of Council structures, the effectiveness of the delegation system and the governance framework. Problems were also experienced with service delivery, particularly with water, electricity, sanitation, housing, and waste management. The Provincial Government had invoked Section 139 (1) (b) of the Constitution in order to bring stability to the Makana Municipality. Early in 2015, there had been a number of public protests and stakeholders had indicated their unhappiness and displeasure with the current state of affairs. 



However, some progress had been made and seven priority areas had been identified for the first three months of the new intervention. 


- Improving infrastructure expenditure
Whilst work was undertaken in this regard, the inability to ensure accelerated expenditure, especially on the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG), remained a challenge. In order to address Makana Water and Sanitation challenges an amount in excess of R400 million was required. There was 102% (R12.534 million) expenditure on roll-over funds in the 2013/14 financial year and 41% (R9.531 million) expenditure of the 2014/15 allocation, resulting in a total of R22.065 million for the period of the intervention. 



- Improving revenue collection
A debt collection service provider was appointed (RevCo) to assist with revenue collection and this yielded a 2 percent increase in revenue collection, bringing the percentage up to 68 percent. This was still below the industry norm of 95 percent. 



- Improving supply chain management (SCM) 
A senior manager from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Eastern Cape (COGTA-EC) was working in this area and had already achieved improvements in the supply chain management. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) template was provided for bid files, the functioning and appointment of SCM bid committees had been reviewed and 15 out of 16 appointment letters were issued. Lease and asset registers were reviewed and templates provided. However this area faced challenges as there was not enough capacity to execute the tasks. 



- Addressing Litigation Challenges
There was a need for better legal capacity and financial resources so as to enable the municipality to address all legal challenges faced, especially from engagement with creditors. This was primarily a historical debt and without raising enough funds it remained a challenge to meet current obligations and service long term debt, which was in excess of R100 million. 



- Improving the functioning of the Human Resources Component
A Human Resources (HR) Manager was appointed in May 2015 and COGTA-EC also seconded a senior official in July 2015. Work on HR policies, development of an employment equity (EE) plan and ensuring compliance with prescripts had already started and was still in progress. 



- Improving Audit Outcomes
Whilst an audit intervention plan had been developed there was a need to provide strategic leadership and oversight over its achievements. In addition the implementation of the Strategic Risk Assessment register was vital.  


- Implementing the Financial Recovery Plan
The Financial Recovery Plan was submitted to the Council for approval prior to March 2015 and was ready for implementation. 



The Department was doing an in-depth assessment of the state of affairs based on the close out report of the administrator and other means of assessment. The result of the assessment would inform the decision of the Provincial Executive on whether to continue or put an end to the intervention.

Discussion

Mr M Chetty (DA, KwaZulu Natal) showed concern about the progress report. The human resources organogram, the litigation capacity and the supply chain management hiring process needed to be finalised as those areas did not show much progress.

Mr L Nzimande (ANC, KwaZulu Natal) said that even though the previous Makana administration wasn't effective, the new administration needed to do more work as the progress report did not reflect enough achievements. All of the seven areas that were identified as a priority were still only half way towards being achieved.

Mr Gomomo said that all efforts had been made to resolve Makana’s current situation and acknowledged that more needed to be done.

The Chairperson called for the Committee Members and the representatives of the municipality to engage in a deeper evaluation and discussion of the Makana intervention during the next meeting, during which the future of Makana would be considered. He thanked the Makana Administrator and recognised the difficulty and the challenges of the situation, but agreed that more should have been achieved.

Outstanding Committee Minutes

Consideration and adoption of Committee report on the Notice of Intervention in Makana Local Municipality

The report was approved and adopted by the Committee.

Consideration and adoption of Committee reports on oversight visits to Ventersdorp ad Tswaing Local Municipalities in North West

The reports were approved and adopted by the Committee.

Committee Minutes Dated 23 June 2015

After reviewing the document, the minutes were approved and adopted. 


Committee Minutes Dated 28 July 2015

After reviewing the document, the minutes were approved and adopted.

The meeting was adjourned.