Question NW1610 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

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07 July 2018 - NW1610

Profile picture: Mileham, Mr K

Mileham, Mr K to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

Whether any municipalities in the North West Province (a) have been placed under administration and/or (b) had any municipal functions taken over by the Government as a result of the recent intervention by the Inter-Ministerial Task Team in the province in line with section 100 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996; if not, why not; if so, (i) which municipalities have been affected, (ii) what is the scope, objective and duration of the intervention, (iii) what is the (aa) expected duration and (bb) criteria for the termination of the intervention and (iv) what process was followed in intervening in the municipality in each case?

Reply:

a) The Inter-Ministerial Task Team identified 12 municipalities in the North West that were deemed to be under tremendous distressed to be prioritized for dedicated support. The approach of support at these 12 municipalities focuses on the 3 priority areas, namely:

(i) Governance – audit outcomes; unauthorised, irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure; internal control and oversight environment; filling of critical senior managers positions in compliance with regulations, implementation of forensic reports that were conducted also conducting investigations in terms of section 106 of the Municipal Systems Act; strengthen political and administrative interface; quality of political leadership and institutionalisation of the Code of Conduct for Councillors and Officials as provided for in schedule 1 and 2 of the Municipal Systems Act in order to address accountability and consequence management.

(ii) Service delivery – infrastructure planning, delivery and implementation management; priority action plans for Water Services Authority to address operational vulnerabilities including maintenance and refurbishment; resolve roles and responsibilities between district and local municipalities with respect to the water and sanitation function by reviewing the existing Service Level Agreements (SLA); accelerate spending on Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) to improve service delivery.

(iii) Financial management – budget management, cash control, debtor management, revenue enhancement, supply chain management and development of financial recovery plans.

(b) Subsequently, the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs issued a directive in terms of section 100(1)(a) to the MEC for Local Government and Human Settlement to make corrective measures regarding the weakness and shortcomings of the Department’s failure to approve and implement the organizational structure for the past five year. Due to lack of adequate capacity, the Department had also failed to provide support to the 22 municipalities. This was affirmed by the recent Auditor-General’s reports, that showed that North West province is the third highest amongst provinces with the worst performing municipalities.

As part of implementation of the directive, the MEC for Local Government and Human Settlement, on 12 June 2018, issued a directive to all 22 municipalities in terms of section 139(1)(a) of the Constitution. Mayors were directed to implement and prioritize corrective measures and report to the MEC on monthly basis the following critical areas:

  1. Post Audit Action Plans.
  2. Appointment of senior managers.
  3. Acceleration of spending on infrastructure grants.
  4. Development of financial recovery plans,
  5. Review bloated municipal organizational structures.
  6. Implementation of Back to Basics Support Plans and
  7. Improve service delivery to communities to curb service delivery protest.

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