Questions and Replies

Reply:

1. The department (COGTA) has initiated capacity assessments that exist nationally into urban search and rescue; (a) conducted by the Directorate: Fire Services and the assessments were completed for Gauteng, Western Cape, North West, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Limpopo provinces and (b) It was found that the two provinces (GP & WC) are complaint and have capacity to render Urban Search and Rescue, moreover, the other provinces found not having required capacity to render USAR. In building capacity, the department has trained 25 personnel in each province (NW and KZN). Currently the directorate: Fire Services has embarked on USAR enhancement project in EC and LP.

2. (a) Currently the department (COGTA) operates by two (2) officials and one vacancy in the Directorate: Fire Services.

(b) The department has access to obtain aircraft through emergency procurement or through cooperation with Non-Governmental Organisations where or when needed

3. The department (COGTA) do not maintain dedicated annual deployment budgets set aside for (a) urban search and rescue, but where funds may be required for deployment such funds may be allocated through reallocation of the unused operational budget of the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC). (b) The Cooperative Governance And Traditional Affairs (COGTA) do not maintain a dedicated budget for aeronautical and maritime search and rescue as these functions are administered through the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC) and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) operated and maintained in terms of the South African Maritime and Aeronautical search and Rescue Act, 2002 administered by the National Department of Transport. As far as the maritime SAR is concerned, the National Department of Transport through SAMSA only submits an operational budget for the management and operationalization of the MRCC, not deployment of SAR assets. The financial implication for the deployment of private SAR assets is managed by the Department (of Transport), in liaison with the RCC Chief. It is on a pay for service basis and not on retention. “Private” referring to non-government organizations. Budget allocations for SAR asset deployment and maintenance should be available from the relevant SASAR member departments. ARCC is currently hosted and funded by Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS). The annual budget allocated by ATNS to resource ARCC is approximately R8,1 million rand annually for Human Resources and R500 000 annually for travel.

4. (a) The department (COGTA) do not have the details available of the vacancy rates at the aeronautical and maritime rescue as these functions are administered through the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC) and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) operated and maintained in terms of the South African Maritime and Aeronautical search and Rescue Act, 2002 administered by the National Department of Transport . The structure of the MRCC currently comprises of 17 positions in total. Namely:-.

1. MRCC Chief (1)
2. MRCC Operations Supervisor (1)
3. Duty Controllers (7)
4. Assistant Duty Controllers (7)
5. Admin Officer (1)

Current Status:-

1. MRCC Chief – Vacant
2. MRCC Ops Supervisor- Filled
3. Duty Controllers – 6 filled (1 vacancy)
4. Assistant Duty Controllers – 5 filled (2 vacancies)
5. Office Admin – Vacant

Total no. of vacancies: 5 (applicable to this Financial Year)

(b) The department (COGTA) has one vacancy in the Directorate: Fire Services in terms of fire and rescue, and

(c) The department (COGTA) do not maintain disaster rescue centres in each province as the Disaster Management Act, 2002 requires each province to establish and maintain a Disaster Management Centre in each province that play a role to coordinate and manage amongst other things the rescue of persons during a disaster.

End.

Reply:

Yes, the Department has taken steps to make way for the reconstitution of traditional councils which have recognised traditional leaders.

a) In February 2022, the COGTA Ministry published the formula for determining the number of members of Traditional Councils (TCs) as required by the Act. However, in January 2023, traditional leaders requested that the published formula be reviewed which led to provinces not being able to finalise the constitution and therefore not meeting the legislated timeframe of 31 March 2023. To address traditional leaders’ concerns, and as empowered by the Act, section 63(4)(c) Intervention Plan was developed to ensure that the TCs can be constituted and the implementation of the plan has commenced. As part of implementation of the Intervention Plan, on 12 May 2023, I convened a meeting of all Houses of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders as well as the MECs to address traditional leaders’ concerns on the current formula.

At this meeting it was resolved that the National House of Traditional and Khoi-San should consult all houses of traditional and khoi-san leaders to make proposals on the formular. The Chairperson of the National House called a Xivijo meeting from 23-24 October 2023 to discuss among others, the formula options and for traditional leaders to make their recommendations in this regard. Arising from the recommendations made at the Xivijo, I have now formally written to all MEC’s and Provincial Houses to consult them on the formula options that have been proposed.

b) Our intention is to gazette the new formula by the end of this calendar year. We envisage the elections of traditional councils to start being held in January 2024.

End.

Reply:

Eskom and Water boards Debts, arrangements and monitoring of payments are managed and overseen by the National Treasury. It is recommended that the question be redirected to the Ministry of Finance for the National Treasury to provide response accordingly.

I thank you.

Reply:

Section 18 of the MFMA required Municipalities to have credible funded budgets. Provincial and National Treasury asses and monitors budgets (funded and unfunded budgets) of Municipalities.

It is recommended that this question be redirected to Minister of Finance for the National Treasury to respond accordingly.

End.

Reply:

(a) How is work done at the sites that are still without the tools of trade,

• Although procurement has not yet taken place, most sites still have tools of trade as well as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) procured in 2022/2023 Financial Year.
• Participants assigned to do useful work at social facilities or public institution like schools, clinics, etc. use tools of trade from those institution they work in.
• Municipalities, government departments as well as the offices of traditional leaders or community tribal offices also help providing tools when CWP useful work is done in their centres.
• Some donations have also been received e.g. in Makhado where a donation of lashers was received.
• Participants sometimes use their own tools especially if the useful work is meant to benefit them e.g. home gardens etc.

(b) Who should be responsible for the lack of tools of trade at such sites.

• The Department takes full responsibility for lack of tools of trade as well as PPEs at site level and the situation will be addressed as soon as the appointment of Implementing Agents is finalised latest by the 1 December 2023.

(c) What are the relevant details of the expenditure of the budget allocated for tools of trade.

• There is no expenditure incurred yet. 
• The budget for tools and materials is R450.00 per participant and R450 for PPE per participant per year.

End.

Reply:

The Department, through the State of Local Government Report, identified the following key contributors to instability and lack of service delivery in local government:

1. Instability in Councils (coalitions and changes in Council) and poor oversight (ineffective, incapacity and dysfunctional committees of Council).
2. Weak administration (vacancies at senior management, incompetence, lack of technical capability, ineffective organograms and shortage of tools of trade).
3. Inability to perform on conditional grants (poor planning, slow/ineffective SCM processes, Business forums, poor performing contractors, and sub-contractors, under expenditure and no value-for-money).
4. Poor and lack of repairs and maintenance of infrastructure (cash management challenges, poor budgeting, poor planning for repairs and maintenance).
5. Poor collection and management of revenue (low revenue base, ineffective revenue generation and enforcement controls).

Steps to address the problems:

The Ministerial outreach was conducted in 8 of the 9 provinces to drive the:

• 1. Implementation of Municipal Support intervention plans focusing on 6 pillars with corresponding solutions to the identified challenges.
  2. Implementation of Schedule 6b of DORA, cost re-imbursement and other measures on MIG expenditure.
  3. Supported Section 139 interventions in distressed municipalities.
  4. The Department also collaborate with sector Departments, SALGA and provinces to build capacity in municipalities to conduct their own affairs.
  5. The Department is also considering the deployment of a team of experts to support municipalities to plan and implement service delivery initiatives.

End.

Reply:

The Department of Co-operative Governance (DCOG) will not instruct municipalities to undertake a full technical audit as DCOG has no authority to do so. DCOG however provides support, together with all the Provincial Governments and the rest of National Government, to municipalities in accordance with the District Development Model (DDM) to perform their functions in terms of section 154 of the Constitution.

DCOG provides technical support for infrastructure development to municipalities including Bela Bela Local Municipality (BBLM) through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) by deploying technical professionals. These professionals provide technical support throughout the project life cycle from integrated development planning, infrastructure delivery to operation and maintenance. This support includes the infrastructure assessments which are part of technical audits, development of master plans, project documentation, Asset Management Plans including Operations and Maintenance Plans.

DCOG monitors the performance of municipalities together with sector departments like the Department of Minerals and Energy (DMRE) on electricity provision, and the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) on water services provision as well as the National Treasury. Sector departments also perform assessments, which are technical audits, for example the Green Drop and Blue Drop Certification Programmes by DWS.

Should municipalities fail to perform their functions, the national government will intervene after provincial governments have done so, in terms of section 139 of the Constitution.

Reported outages in BBLM are attended to by a standby maintenance team. Water outages have currently been implemented to manage demand which is not met by the bulk supply from both Magalies Water Board and BBLM’s own water treatment works. BBLM’s street lights have been negatively affected by the theft of streetlight cables. BBLM has planned and implemented a multi-year theft proof mechanism due to insufficient budget to roll it out at once to the whole municipality. A few areas have been attended to with an overhead line which has proven to be efficient in addressing the theft of cables.

End.

Reply:

Yes, funds were allocated by government through the respective organs of state as per their respective mandates and programmes to address the effects of the disasters within affected communities. The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs coordinated response measures by the relevant organs of state to ensure alignment and collaboration of efforts.

(a) A total amount of R3.5 billion was allocated by COGTA from the existing Disaster Grants to the affected municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape to repair and reconstruct the damaged infrastructure for water, sanitation, roads, and bridges in order to restore the livelihood of the affected communities and ensure the provision of reliable service delivery. This approach was to facilitate a comprehensive and integrated relief package to the affected community members. Other allocations have been done by the relevant organs of state as per their mandates and budget votes.

(b) The total expenditure as reported by municipalities allocated Disaster Grant funds managed by COGTA is R993 337 206.00

(c) According to the information provided by the Department of Human Settlements, affected communities were supported through approximately 3 033 temporary residential units (TRU’s) in both KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces where the houses were damaged as a result of the heavy rainfall of April 2022.

(d) Repair work that has been done already?

Through the allocation to municipalities from the Municipal Disaster Response Grant, several assets that are owned by municipalities were repaired to ensure continuous and reliable services to affected communities. The repair of infrastructure includes repairing of tarred, paved and re-gravelling of damaged roads, replacement of valves and electrical components for water and sewer treatment plants and repairing damaged bridges to allow communities to access facilities such as schools, clinics, and hospitals. The table below depicts evidence of progress made:

End.

Reply:

No. The incident was not brought to the attention of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs – NDMC. Furthermore, no funding request was submitted by the Rustenburg Local Municipality (the municipality) through the Provincial Disaster Management Centre in North West province (PDMC). According to the information provided by the PDMC, the bridge that was damaged by the floods was constructed by the Anglo Platinum Mine.

1. Not applicable,
2. Not applicable
3. According to the province, the Municipality continues to monitor the water catchment as part of disaster risk reduction measure, particularly clearing culverts as and when necessary.

End.

Reply:

The question is elicited by the Honoruable Member’s take that there is a “proposed National Treasury plan to ring-fence municipal grants meant for indigent households for use in the payment of debt by dysfunctional municipalities” of which the Department of Cooperative Governance is not privy of. Given that the “plan” is attributed to the National Treasury which also issued MFMA Circular No. 124 (on Municipal Debt Relief), it is therefore recommended that the question be redirected to Ministry of Finance for the National Treasury to provide a response accordingly.

I thank you.

Reply:

Item 4.1.3.2 of the National Treasury issued MFMA Circular No. 124 (on Municipal Debt Relief) states

“If a delegated municipality did not meet any condition during any month, the Provincial Treasury’s  certificate of compliance in terms of this paragraph must include as an attachment a report explaining the non-compliance and the progressive support measures instituted by both the provincial treasury and the municipality to facilitate the municipality’s progressive adherence to the condition(s).”

It is therefore recommended that the question be redirected to Ministry of Finance for the National Treasury to provide a response accordingly.

I thank you.

Reply:

1. (a) The department (COGTA) has initiated fire services capacity assessments which is updated on annual basis with all the Provincial Disaster Management Centres across the Country. (i) The current rescue capacity in the Country is as follows:

(ii) The NDMC has noted that the provinces i.e. Free State, Northern Cape, and Mpumalanga are without dedicated Fire focal persons in fulltime capacity for the coordination of Fire Services functions. This is recorded as a shortcoming to carry out fire services functions in the above-mentioned Provinces as per proclamation R153 of the Constitution of South Africa.

(b) The department (COGTA) do not maintain dedicated annual deployment budgets set aside for (i) international and/or cross border rescues, but where funds may be required for deployment, such funds may be allocated through reallocation of the unused operational budget of the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC). (ii) local rescue as such responsibility in terms of Schedule 4, Part B of the South African Constitution Fire Services is the responsibility of local government with national and provincial oversight. The Fire Brigade Services Act, 1987 (Act no. 99 of 1987) (FBSA) is the primary piece of legislation regulating fire services and provides for the establishment, maintenance, employment, co-ordination and standardisation of fire brigade services. (iii) The Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) do not maintain a dedicated budget for maritime rescue as these functions are administered through the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC) and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) operated and maintained in terms of the South African Maritime and Aeronautical search and Rescue Act, 2002 administered by the National Department of Transport. The annual budget allocated by ATNS to resource ARCC is approximately R8,1 million rand annually for Human Resources and R500 000 annually for travel.

(2) (a) Total number of credited swift water technicians in each province

(b) The department (COGTA) do not maintain any details of the level of accredited qualifications, this information is at various institutions of higher learning.

End.

Reply:

1. The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) keeps a record of engineers employed in municipalities that are supported by the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA). As of December 2022, the total number of (a) mechanical, (b) electrical, (c) civil and (d) chemical engineers employed is provided on Annexure A attached hereto.

2. Yes, some of the engineers are registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and shown on Annexure A as professionally registered. Some of the engineers are not registered as they are still gaining the requisite experience required for professional registration.

3. According to the respective municipalities, the total number of vacancies is provided on Annexure A attached hereto.

4. The vacant posts get advertised in local and national newspapers as well as on the municipalities’ websites in some instances.

5. The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs will not make a statement on the matter as the vacancies are filled as and when they become available anytime during the year when the incumbent leaves the position. Furthermore, the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) through MISA deploys professionally registered engineers, among other built environment professionals, to provide technical support for infrastructure development to the municipalities.

End.

Reply:

The stability of municipal administrations is an important component both in building capacity and in creating the environment for effective functioning of the municipality and provision of sustainable service delivery. To strengthen institutional capacity, the Minister promulgated the Local Government: Municipal Staff Regulations and Guidelines as a response to the commitments of government’s resolve to professionalise local public administration and build a capable local public administration and human resources. The regulations prescribe minimum competency requirements for staff below management echelon, for entry into the municipal administration. The Regulations for staff below senior managers are linked with competency requirements for each individual occupational level.

The Department is currently rolling out programmes through Municipal Systems Improvement Grants (MSIG), which aimed at providing technical support to the municipalities to stabilize administration and improve governance systems. The roll out of these programmes empowers and strengthen capacity within municipalities.

To ensure effective use of consultants, Local Government Municipal Cost Containment Regulations prescribe requirements, and bring consistency and uniformity in application od use of consulatnts. The regulations requires that the municipalities may only appoint consultants if an assessment of the needs and requirements confirms that the affected municipality does not have the requisite skills or resources in its full -time employ to perform the function. Furthermore, the regulations advocate for municipality to develop consultancy reduction plans to reduce the reliance on consultants.

Though, the use of consultants is not prohibited, municipalities are encouraged to channel resource and invest in building internal capacity for sustainability and reduce reliance on consultants.

End.

Reply:

The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs did not issued any regulations and/or directives to municipalities with regard to end-of-year functions. This specific matter is addressed in the Local Government: Municipal Cost Containment Regulations issued by the National Treasury as well as MFMA Circular 82.

It is recommended that honourable member redirect the question to Minister of Finance for the National Treasury to respond accordingly.

End.

Reply:

No, the department has not issued an instruction to any municipalities to award municipal officials danger pay for their efforts during COVID19.

End.

Reply:

The demarcation or re-demarcation of municipal boundaries (including amalgamations) is the responsibility of the Municipal Demarcation Board (“the Board”) in terms of the Local Government: Municipal Demarcation Act, 1998 (“the Demarcation Act”). The amalgamation of municipalities that took effect after the 2016 Local Government Elections (LGEs) was finalised by the Board after applying section 24 and 25 of the Demarcation Act and other relevant provisions.

The Demarcation Act affords the member of the public the opportunity to make proposals for determination and redetermination of municipal boundaries. Therefore, the honourable member may also make submission to the Board should there be a need for redetermination of these boundaries as permissible in terms of the Demarcation Act.

End.

Reply:

No, the Department does not intend to put measures in place in this regard as the salaries of Public Office Bearers including that of Kings/Queens is determined by the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers. On 16 August 2023, the Commission issued a proclamation determining salaries for Kings/Queens, Principal Traditional Leaders, Senior Traditional Leaders as well as Headmen and Headwomen.

Based on the latest determination, all Kings/Queens are equally remunerated a salary of R 1 315 429. The department is not aware of any King that is remunerated higher than the other Kings.

End.

Reply:

The Department has not been advised of any sports field project where services were procured with no construction taking place in the eDumbe local municipality. A sport field project (Mashekelela Sports Field) was completed in the 2022/2023 FY for a budget of R3 million funded through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant.

End.

Reply:

a) Local Reference Committees (LRCs) are a deliberate design feature of the Community Work Program (CWP). They are primarily intended to provide an Oversight Role in the implementation of CWP at Site level. In this regard, this implies signing off on the development of Site Business Plans and monitoring the implementation thereof. Site Business Plans detail the Useful Work Projects that will be undertaken by the different work groups each led by a Supervisor.

b) LRCs meet once a quarter to receive reports on the implementation of the Site Business Plans from Site Managers. It is these reports that enable the oversight and monitoring of the implementation of the program. Where there are challenges, the LRC is enjoined to provide support to ensure remedies are expeditiously implemented. These reports, together with all relevant Portfolio of Evidence (POE) are submitted through the province to national department as attestation that the program is being implemented.

c) Additionally, the Monitoring and Reporting protocols of CWP enable regular Site Visits as a mechanism of ensuring validation and verification of what has been reported. This is the yardstick my department employs to illustrate that the program is implementable.

d) Indeed, there has been challenges regarding LRC functionality in the Gauteng and North West provinces. This is the function of a persistent instability that emanates from an attempt at unionisation of CWP participants in those specific provinces. In this regard, there seems to be a drive at recruiting Participants in this poverty alleviation program into Unions with a promise for access to employee benefits that are determined through the collective bargaining process. The department is dealing with this phenomenon.

End.

Reply:

1. No, the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) did not undertake any assessment of the cost incurred by local municipalities for electrical and water infrastructure damage as a direct impact of loadshedding. However, the South African Association of Local Government (SALGA) undertook an assessment of all municipalities in March 2023 to quantify municipal expenditure and revenue losses as a result of loadshedding. SALGA presented the preparatory work and survey instrument for this assessment to the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) MINMEC meeting of 3 March 2023. According to SALGA, all 257 municipalities in the country were contacted to participate in this assessment. However, only 89 municipalities across the country responded with 75 of them being Water Service Authorities (WSAs) and 79 being licensed municipal distributors. The assessment, or study by SALGA, made several findings including the following:

• The frequency and intensity of cable theft and vandalism of infrastructure during loadshedding is so high that 12% of the surveyed municipalities recorded over 100 incidents per day per loadshedding period.
• The overall cost for fixing damaged and stolen municipal infrastructure and equipment during loadshedding amounts to R1.6 billion (R1 602 300 000) over the 89 municipalities for 2022/23 financial year.
• The cost to fix damaged Waste-Water Treatment Works (WWTW), Water Treatment Works (WTW), and to procure back-up generators and diesel across the 89 municipalities was R1 406 445 056.
• The total loss of revenue due to unserved energy from municipalities was in excess of R21 billion per annum for all municipal licensed distributors.
• Municipalities were incurring R1 107 583 200 per annum on staff overtime and contractors due to repairing electrical infrastructure in addition to the normal cost budgeted for the overtime and service providers.

2. (a) There are several reasons for the failure of municipalities to protect their assets as required by the applicable legislation in this regard which include the following:

• Governance, institutional and financial challenges as they all contribute to service delivery challenges.
• During loadshedding theft and vandalism of infrastructure increases as the loadshedding times are known to everyone including the would-be vandals and thieves.
• Lack of sufficient technical capacity to develop and implement operations and maintenance plans that include protection of these assets.
• Insufficient budget to implement the required measures as well as to ensure additional security during loadshedding periods.
• As a result of loadshedding middle- and high-income households, commercial and industrial customers are leaving the municipal grid and installing embedded generators, own generation resulting in municipalities losing revenues.

(b) DCOG has assisted municipalities in this regard in several ways including the following:

• DCOG led the development of Municipal Support Intervention Plans aimed address governance, institutional, financial and service delivery challenges following the development of the State of Local Government (SoLG) Report in 2021 that identified dysfunctional municipalities.
• DCOG, through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) has deployed built environment professionals to provide technical support to municipalities for infrastructure development throughout the project life cycle including protecting these assets during load shedding. To-date MISA has deployed 103 built environment professionals countrywide (86 of which are professionally registered with Statutory bodies as engineers and town planners).
• MISA technical support personnel are further supporting municipalities to implement the Energy Efficiency Demand Side Management (EEDSM) measures through funding administered by the Department of Minerals and Energy (DMRE).
• DCOG introduced reforms to the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) that include up to 5% of the allocation being allowed to fund activities related to the development of an Infrastructure Asset Management Plan.
• Through the MIG grant municipalities can implement solar high mast lights which improve security during load shedding with the support of MISA technical support personnel.

End.

Reply:

The response below was provided by the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigations (DPCI). Accordingly, I have been advised as follows:

a) A total of 29 cases involving Councillors are being investigated by the DPCI as of 05 September 2023. Details on the status of the 29 cases are provided below:

b) A total of twenty-six (26) Councillors have been charged since 2019. Below are the details:

c) Awaiting response from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

d) Same as above.

e)   Same as above.

End

Reply:

With the conclusion of the National Dialogue on Coalition Governments hosted by the Office of the Deputy President on 04 and 05 August 2023 at the University of the Western Cape, the Department of Cooperative Governance will now commence with its consultative processes on the proposed draft amendments to the Municipal Structures Act.

We will endeavour to have this in place before the commencement of our next term of local government in 2026.

Some of the aspects to be addressed in the legislation relate to (i) encouraging amendments to the section 12 Notices to change from Mayoral Executive System to a Collective Executive System to create an environment of “political inclusivity”, (ii) professionalising the administration, (iii) limitation on motions of no confidence through the introduction of a ‘2-year’ cooling-off period to force the focus on the functionality of council and service delivery, (iv) creation and publication of coalition agreements, (v) enabling the party with the highest number of seats to be given first preference to form a coalition with clear timeframes and (vi) enabling the party with the highest number of seats to be given first preference for the appoint of the Mayor (as appointed from the EXCO).

I wish to also acknowledge the ongoing discourse on this subject on various platforms, but also the work done by various stakeholders, and we believe that the knowledge generated from these engagements will lay a good foundation to build on towards the regulatory framework to guide coalition arrangements in municipal councils, including whether or not and how the municipal electoral system may need to change to ensure greater stability.

In the meantime, we urge all political parties to prioritise the needs of our people, to put their differences aside, and ensure that we have councils that are stable, functional and delivering services to all our communities.

End.

Reply:

The land use management function in municipalities is regulated in chapter 5 of the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act No. 08 of 2013 (SPLUMA). The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development is the custodian of SPLUMA and therefore responsible for supporting the land use function in municipalities.

However, the Department of Cooperative Governance as the coordinator of the Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF) is implementing two key projects which have an impact on the land use management function in municipalities, namely, the development of Capital Expenditure Frameworks (CEFs) in intermediate city municipalities (ICMs), and the implementation of the Small-Town Regeneration (STR) strategy. The Department has to date supported 9 of the 39 ICMs with the development of CEFs.

The Small Towns Regeneration strategy, which entails the development of precinct plans for the towns, is currently being piloted in Piketberg (Bergrevier Local Municipality), Modimolle (Modimolle-Moookgopong Local Municipality), and Senegal (Setsoto Local Municipality).

End.

Reply:

The Department is already working with the National Treasury on several local government reforms which include the development or review of municipal regulations, MFMA circulars, grants frameworks etc. which seeks to enhance the capacity in municipalities. There are also established intergovernmental structures i.e. budget forums, MFMA coordinators meetings etc. where the collaborative model is further entrenched.

Sound financial management requires stability within the administration from a governance perspective, therefore, as a response hereto, the Department has rolled out the following programmes to augment what the National Treasury is doing, as part of the collaborative strategy to support municipalities:

• promulgated the municipal staff regulations, which became effective from July 2022. To give effect to the implementation of municipal staff regulations, the Department is in the process of piloting the prototype staff establishment, which deals with review of organogram, which will enable municipalities to have a fit for purpose structure.
• Support to MPACs and other council committees to ensure their functionality;
• The department has also promulgated the Code of Conduct for Councillors Regulations to support the implementation of Schedule 7 in the Municipal Structures Act. This will contribute towards the stability at a council committee but also ensure that there is action in the event where there is instability or unwanted behaviour.
• Development of the Integrated Local Government Capacity Building Strategy which seek to introduce a strategy on how to address the skills deficiencies at municipalities to reduce the reliance on consultants.
• The department is also reviewing its support strategy which includes amongst others, how to better utilize Municipal Systems Improvement Grant (MSIG) to improve internal controls within municipalities and overall governance.
• The Department, through MISA, support municipalities on among others, the placement of civil and electrical engineers to assist with capacity building in the municipal project management unit.
• Data Management (Revenue)- aimed at assisting municipalities to improve accuracy and completeness of billing and address revenue leakages.
• Cost of supply study on water services- aimed at assisting municipalities to determine cost of providing trading services, revenue requirements and tariff design.
• Records management- aimed at assisting municipalities to improve records management, assist with the stabilisation of the administration and promote culture of accountability.

The above, together with support from the National Treasury will go a long way towards assisting municipalities to address the weaknesses identified by the Auditor-General. It is however important that this be looked at within the context of section 154 of the Constitution, meaning that municipalities still ultimately remain responsible and accountable to manage their own affairs. So by implication, the support initiatives is there to support municipalities but their success is highly dependent on the receptiveness thereto by the leadership within the municipality.

End.

Reply:

1. Some of the proposed changes relate to (i) encouraging amendments to the section 12 Notices to change from Mayoral Executive System to a Collective Executive System to create an environment of “political inclusivity”, (ii) professionalising the administration, (iii) limitation on motions of no confidence through the introduction of a ‘2-year’ cooling-off period to force the focus on the functionality of council and service delivery, (iv) creation and publication of coalition agreements, (v) enabling the party with the highest number of seats to be given first preference to form a coalition with clear timeframes, (vi) enabling the party with the highest number of seats to be given first preference for the appoint of the Mayor (as appointed from the EXCO) and (vii) the introduction of a 1% threshold that will require parties to receive at least 1% of the votes casted to qualify for a seat on the municipal council.

2. Note that the department did not pre-empt the National Dialogue, in fact, the department was in the process of hosting a similar type of engagement but decided to halt its plans since government through the Deputy President’s office planned to host a session, albeit from a much broader perspective.

End.

Reply:

The participation of Traditional Leaders in municipal council meetings is regulated by section 81 of the Municipal Structures Act, which was amended by the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act, 2019 (Act No. 3 of 2019). The amendment came into operation on 1 April 2021. More specifically, Section 81(4) of the Municipal Structures Act, provides that participating traditional leaders may participate in the proceedings of the relevant local, district or metropolitan municipality and may submit motions, make proposals and ask questions. A participating traditional leader may also address the municipal council on any matter directly or indirectly affecting traditional or Khoi-San leadership or the relevant traditional or Khoi-San council or community. More details of the roles of participating leaders in municipal council proceedings are found in section 81(8).

End.

Reply:

a) The intergovernmental One Plans are the implementation tools of the District Development Model, which provides the framework for how service delivery challenges will be responded to by government. One Plans therefore contain budgetary commitments, performance and implementation targets, milestones and timeframes, by all of government that are confirmed and agreed upon at the various intergovernmental structures and platforms that are already in place across the three spheres of government.

b) Intergovernmental commitments made in One Plans are monitored and tracked through the work of the established intergovernmental structures and platforms across the three spheres of government as well as through the DDM Information Management System produced by the Department and individual provinces. These mechanisms are also complimented by the quarterly reports produced by the DDM political champions and the hosting of Presidential DDM imbizos in all provinces and in selected districts, where the Executive engage with citizens on not only service delivery challenges but also progress made in this regard.

End.

Reply:

Six out of the eight targets and milestones in the agreed MoA between the department and the Development Bank of Southern Africa as it programme implementation agent in these three pilot sites, were achieved by 30 April 2023, when the MoA was terminated. The one target and milestone not completely achieved, which stood at 85% achieved, relates to the filling of certain identified vacancies within the three DDM technical support hubs due to recruitment delays and the premature termination of the MoA. The other target and milestone not completely achieved, which also stood at 85% achieved, was the convening of scheduled Executive Steering Committee (ESC) and Operations Steering Committee (OSC) meetings on time as planned due to other priority commitments by both parties.

End.

Reply:

a) Firstly, I would like to state that stipends for participants and salaries for Site Management staff have been paid on time for the past three months i.e. participants payment date being 25th of each month and Site Management Staff being the last day of each month. Queries of non-payment relates to bank account changes and these participants are very few.

b) I am aware of the challenge of inadequate Protective Personal Equipment (PPE) for Participants intended to minimize exposure to hazards that cause serious workplace injuries and illnesses. This challenge is largely as a result of delayed procurement processes by Implementing Agents (IAs) and further exacerbated by the discontinuation of their contract in March 2023.

c) The source of this PPE challenge was an attempt on the part of the department to promote value for money procurement by IAs. The department introduced a requirement that enjoins IAs to submit all intended procurement for approval.

d) The unintended consequence was that this requirement imposed additional strain on an already overstretched Finance unit resulting in delays in the procurement and distribution of PPE.

e) The provision of PPE for Participants is not a nice to have, but a compliance issue that the department must ensure is observed in accordance to the prescripts of the Occupational Health and Safety Act monitored by the Department of Employment and Labour.

f) It is for this reason that Site Audits are currently underway to determine the PPE needs of each Participant with the intention to expedite the procurement process and ensure compliance with the prescripts of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

End.

Reply:

The DDM implementation update reports produced by the department confirms that the DDM is now fully incorporated into the agendas of the various intergovernmental structures and platforms across the government. These reports also indicate that implementation of various One Plan projects are being implemented by the different government partners and stakeholders, which are further demonstrated in the site visits under taken by the Honourable President of the Republic and members of the Executive during Presidential DDM imbizos. For example the Tsomo river abstraction and water treatment plant in the Chris Hani District that will benefit 40 000 households and was constructed at a cost of R215 million and created 1692 jobs during construction and where locally based SMMEs were used. As well as the “Vlakkeland housing project” in the town of Paarl in the Cape Winelands District which is earmarked for mixed use development consisting of subsidy, GAP and social housing as well as social facilities. To date, R248 million has been spent on the completion of 432 houses and the construction of a further 323 units are underway. More than 180 local workers are employed at this site.

End.

Reply:

Noting that, in accordance with Section 71 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), municipalities submit Section 71 reports to National Treasury (NT) each month detailing their creditors, and NT assesses those reports. Given the foregoing context, this inquiry must be forwarded to the minister of finance so that National Treasury can react appropriately.

End.

Reply:

Not all of the following specified goals in the Budget Vote in 2022 have been met yet:

• The allocation of R50,6 billion through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) over the MTSF.
• The delivery of basic services, roads, and social infrastructure for poor households in 218 municipalities through the MIG.
• Directing 10% of the MIG at fulfilling the gap as it relates to repairs and maintenance and;
• 5% of the MIG addressing Infrastructure Asset Management Planning.

The medium term expenditure figure is divided as follows:

The first specified goal above is on track as R17 545 049 000 was allocated and disbursed to municipalities in 2022/23 financial year. As the municipal financial year ended at the end of June 2023, the assessment of the rest of the specied goals above, which is the performance of the MIG in 2022/23 year, is currently underway to be finalised at the end of this quarter as required in terms of Section 10 (8) of the Division of Revenue Act (DoRA), 2023.

1. The following are some of the common barriers to meeting the specified goals on the MIG programme in particular, and service delivery in general:

• Challenges with the political leadership and environment, governance, institutional management, financial management. The assessment of the state of local government in 2021 and repeated in 2022 highlighted that all these challenges contribute to poor service delivery and implementation of programmes like the MIG.
• Lack of capacity in municipalities especially professionally registered built environment practitioners to effectively manage infrastructure development remains a challenge.
• Uncoordinated support to municipalities in terms of section 154 of the Constitution
• Consequence management to non-MIG performers lead to communities being deprived of services when the non spent portion of the MIG grant is re-allocated to the spending municipalities.

1. A number of interventions and measures were put in place to deal with the above-mentioned barriers including the following:

• The implementation of the Municipal Support and Intervention Plan (MSIP) that was developed as a response to the State of Local Government Report of 2021. The MSIP provides action plans for all pillars that affect service delivery mentioned above and the implementation thereof, is done by all of government including provincial and national departments.
• The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) continues to deploy technical professionals through the Municipal Infrastructure support Agent (MISA) to support municipalities with infrastructure development throughout the project life cycle. To-date MISA has deployed 103 built environment professionals (86 of which are professionally registered with Statutory bodies as engineers and town planners) across all 9 provinces.
• The implementation of the District Development Model (DDM) is beginning to bear fruit in the coordinated support towards local government. This is evidenced, among other iniatiatives, by the resuscitation of the Green Drop and Blue Drop programmes by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and consequent joint development of improvement plans for dysfunctional municipalities. The Green Drop Report was released in 2022 while the Blue Drop Watch Report was released in June 2023 by DWS. This assists in joint infrastructure grants management like the MIG and those administered by DWS like the Water Services Infrastructure Grant. This joint collaboration aims to ensure that over the MTSF the specified goals are met especially related to Asset Management Planning and repairs and maintenance.
• The creation of the MIG 6B indirect grant has been included in the MIG Framework as a instrument aimed at ensuring that deserving communities are not disadvantaged by non-performing MIG receiving municipalities. This will see DCOG implementing projects on behalf of those perennial non-performing municipalities as a contribution towards specified goals.

End.

Reply:

The department does not have record of the water and electricity losses recorded for each municipality. The monitoring of water losses is done by Department of Water and Sanitation working with Municipalities. The monitoring of electricity losses is done by National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA).

End.

Reply:

1. In the past three years, the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) implemented sixty (60) infrastructure projects, thirty eight (38) were not completed according to initial schedule. The projects were completed after extension of time for several reasons including the lack of availability of materials that were vastly experienced in year 2020 during the COVID19 lockdown periods. There were four (4) projects, included in the 38 mentioned above, where the contracts of service providers were terminated due to poor performance of service providers and replacement contractors appointed resulting in delays.
2. (i) Section 106 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000, is applied to municipalities. It is therefore not applicable to the national sphere of government.

(ii) The response is as per (b) (i) above.

End.

Reply:

1. Yes, the list for all damaged infrastructure as received from the respective provinces have been furnished for roads and bridges damaged by floods in (i) KwaZulu-Natal and (ii) Eastern Cape. Below table sumarises the damaged infrastructure:

Table: Summaries for Eastern Cape & KwaZulu-Natal

1. (a) Fixing of damaged roads and bridges is the responsibility of the affected provinces and municipalities as per their respective legislated mandate. However, following the applications by these affected organs state, DCOG allocated an amount of R3.1 billion (R3 060 038 000 for KZN and R113 511 000 for EC) from the disaster grants to augment the resources of the affected organs of state to fix the damaged infrastructure that included roads and bridges in the EC and KZN respectively. (i) A total of 1507 roads and bridges respectively were funded by DCOG to be fixed by the responsible organs of state (4 bridges in the EC and 153 bridges in KZN) (21 roads in the EC and 1 350 roads in KZN). (ii) The fixing of the damaged infrastructure that could not be funded from the disaster grants is the responsibility of the affected organs of state through existing programmes and arrangements as per the Disaster Management Act, 57 of 2002 (Act 57 of 2002) (b) the time frames for fixing infrastructure still not yet fixed are determined by the responsible organs of state inline with their existing arrangements.

End

Reply:

The department has not identified areas to be allocated for housing across all provinces. The identification of suitable land and the development of that land is an ongoing collaborative effort amongst relevant organs of state, i.e. provincial and local government, Human Settlements and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure as per their respective legislated mandates. The department through the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) together with the Provincial Disaster Management Centres across the country continues to provide support to relevant organs of state in the implementation of sustainable interventions including the identification of suitable land for rebuilding and settlement of communities for building back better, to promote resilience, prevent or minimise the impacts of flooding incidents. The organs of state are further supported in the development of Disaster Management Contingency Plans and implementation of the plans thereof.

End

Reply:

1. The Minister receives reports on appointments of senior managers including Chief Financial Officers (CFO) and Municipal Managers (MMs) on periodic basis in terms of section 54A(3) and section 56(2)(a) of the Municipal Systems Act, (Act No.32 of 2000) as amended in 2022, read together with Regulation 17 of the Local Government: Regulations on Appointment and Conditions of Employment of Senior Managers (Government gazettee No. 37245) ,
2. (i) and (ii) The Municipal Regulations on minimum competency levels as promulgated in Government Gazette No. 29967 and amended by Government Gazette No. 41996 of 2018 in terms of Municipal Finance Management Act, (Act 56 of 2003) is administered by the Minister of Finance.
3. According to information received from provinces, the following are the total number of filled and vacant positions for municipal managers and chief financial officers as at end March 2023:

1. To ensure effective use of consultants, the Minister of Finance promulgated the Local Government: Municipal Cost Containment Regulations and these Regulations introduced a requirement for the development of a consultancy reduction plan. The development of this consultancy reduction plan is now a prerequisite and needs to be approved by the municipal council before any consultant can be appointed, especially in instances where capacity exist within a specific municpality. Compliance with this Regulation is monitored by the National Treasury and hence it is suggested that the specific question relating to consultancy usage is reffered to the Minister of Finance.

End.

Reply:

The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) will continue to support Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in accordance with section 154 of the Constitution. This will be done in accordance with the District Development Model (DDM) in collaboration with other sector departments including the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) as DWS is responsible for water regulation. DWS monitors the management of drinking water quality compliance by WSAs and further engages the WSAs where non-compliance is detected. WSAs are required to register for the monitoring programme on the DWS’s Integrated Regulatory Information System (IRIS). Following the release of the Blue Drop Watch Report by DWS on 6 June 2023, DCOG in collaboration with DWS is developing an action plan, to be submitted to Cabinet, that seeks to address the non-compliances in the treatment processes of drinking water and effluent.

Furthermore, DCOG has embarked on a process of identifying stalled water projects, among others, in mainly dysfunctional municipalities that are perennial under spenders of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG). DCOG has consulted with National Treasury and SALGA on the creation of MIG schedule 6B that will see DCOG implement the identified stalled projects in dysfunctional municipalities as a mitigating measure towards water resilience and universal access. The schedule 6B implementation will be done in this financial year.

End.

Reply:

The use of consultants is regulated in the Municipal Cost Containment Regulations issued by the National Treasury.

End.

Reply:

1. (i) National departments: R 92 564 557
2. Provincial departments: R 346 382 610
3. State-owned entities: R 76 313 507

1. The Mangaung Intervention Team has taken the following steps to facilitate payment of municipal accounts from departments and state owed entities:

• Meetings were held with different departments to discuss the payment of municipal debts;
• Letters of demand have been issued to the different departments;
• Services have already been disconnected from provincial government. They were reconnected only after payment of R 50 million as well as commitment to make a payment arrangement for the remaining outstanding amount. Government has been given until 30 June 2023 to provide a formal payment arrangement. Should there be a failure to submit, they will be disconnected again.
• Re-allocations or reconciliation of accounts with credit balances and accounts with debt balances is in progress.

End.

Reply:

Amalgamation of underfunded municipalities will not resolve challenges experienced in the local government. The Department of Cooperative Governance, National Treasury and the South African Local Government Association are in a process of looking at the possibility of revising the current equitable share formula to address the issue of underfunded municipalities.

End.

Reply:

Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs did not provide reply to question 1835 on 15 June 2022. The abovemention question was responded to By Minister of Water and Sanitation. It is recommended that honourable member transfer PQ 2378 to Ministry of Water and Sanitation to provided replies accordingly.

End.

Reply:

(1) The following local municipalities are currently under intervention as provided for in section 139 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996:

(2) The National Treasury is the custodian of Municipal Finances and all information related to the finances and expenditure of municipalities resides with the National Treasury.

End.

Reply:

Enclosed find a list (Annexure A) of project with the projects with expenditure reported in 2021/22 and 2022/23. Note the 2022/23 municpal financial year ends at the end of June 2023 and the list provides information as at April 2023.

Futher information and follow-up may be directed to National Treasury as they oversee overall MIG performance and spending.

End.

Reply:

The use of consultants is regulated in the Municipal Cost Containment Regulations issued by the National Treasury.

End.

Reply:

The Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) did not provide any urgent support measures to Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (NMBMM) as the NMBMM’s Disaster Management Center and Emergency Teams had technical capacity to attend to the floods. MISA remains available to augment and provide support to NMBMM as and when needed, the same way MISA does not low and medium capacity municipalities.

End.

Reply:

Municipalities are required to publish all tenders and contracts on their website and also on the municipal notice boards in accordance with section 75 of the  Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). In addition, MFMA circular 83 advocates for publication of procurement information on tender portal, which requires municipalities to pulish all bids, awarded bids, cancelled bids, deviations, variations & extensions of existing contracts on the eTender Publication Portal. This is done as a way to promote a culture of transparancy and to give efffect to section 217 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, which advocates for municipalities to procure goods and services in terms of a system which is transparent, fair, competitive, equitable and cost effective.

(b)

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) referrals to municipalities are not done through the Minister, but through the MECs. If the MEC does not take the necessary action, then the SIU will escalate the matter to the Premier in the Province.     

Furthermore, officials from the Department are collaborating with officials from the Presidency and the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), who are assessing implementation of recommendations emanating from the SIU investigation reports. Should this broader assessment with the Presidency and the DPME identify matters that require my attention, I will ensure that the necessary steps are taken to ensure accountability.  

The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG) in collaboration with the SIU established the Local Government Anti-Corruption Forum (LGACF) which is vital for purposes of fostering collaboration amongst the various stakeholders at local government in order to effectively fight corruption and co-ordinate efforts amongst provinces and law enforcement agencies. On a quarterly basis, the SIU provides progress on municipal investigations through the LGACF.

As such, the Department will continue to collaborate with the SIU and other law enforcement agencies to ensure that recommendations emanating from investigations reports are implemented and there is accountability.

End.

Reply:

The department does not maintain a record of the necessary data required by respectable member. It is advised that the inquiry be forwarded to the Department of Transport since it is in charge of aviation-related operations, including the creation of airport plans that serve as a blueprint for all current and future airport improvements.

End.

Reply:

1. Roles are given to traditional leaders in terms of section 25 of the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act, 2019 (Act No. 3 of 2019). In this regard, a national or provincial department can only give roles to traditional leaders in respect of functional areas of such a department. The building of shelters is not a functional competence of the Department of Traditional Affairs. However, in practice we collaborate with traditional leaders and other role players in addressing the socio-economic needs of communities in areas under the jurisdiction of traditional leaders. We have seen this in practice during natural disasters where traditional leaders have played a pivotal role in, among others, speedily making communal land parcels available for resettlement.

2. As indicated in (1) above, the building of shelters is not the functional competence of the Department of Traditional Affairs. The Department therefore does not have at its disposal the information referred to by the Honourable Member.

End.