Question NW957 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
18 April 2018 - NW957
Mileham, Mr K to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
With reference to his statement that 55 municipalities are classified as distressed and/or dysfunctional in his press conference on 20 March 2018, (a) which municipalities have been classified in this manner, (b) what is the primary cause or nature of the distress and/or dysfunctionality in each case and (c) what specific action(s) is his department taking to address the problem in each case?
Reply:
a) The Minister will table the names of 55 municipalities identified as dysfunctional during the next CoGTA budget vote speech. The annual MIG transfers of the identified municipalities were stopped at least twice in the past five years.
b) The primary causes of the distress and/or dysfunctionality can be traced to poor financial management, poor infrastructure management, and/or poor governance and administration. Part of the planned intervention will involve high level assessment of the actual causes in order to better inform interventions.
c) The Department is adopting a multi-pronged approach, which will includes:
- Establishment and deployment of MISA District Support Teams;
- Building a skills pipeline in local government; and
- Strengthening financial viability through implementation of financial recovery plans.