Questions and Replies

Reply:

a) National Public Works

Provincial Public Works

Schools

National Department of Rural Development and Land Reform

Free State Development Corporation

b)(i) The total amounts owed by each of the specified departments and organs of state is as follows:

b)(ii) The detailed balances and age analysis for debt owed by national and provincial departments are as follows:

c) National Public Works disputed an amount of approximately R 155 million.

d) Meetings have been conveed with debtors to facilitate payment of arrear debt to the Metro including the issuance of letters of demand reflecting amounts outstanding on their municipal accounts.

Reply:

The table below provides a breakdown of the number of municipalities that utilises either the Collective Executive System or the Mayoral Executive System, per province:          

Reply:

No, there are no recorded cases of sexual harassment against participants over the past five years in the Community Works Programme which have been brought to my attention.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Reply:

This information was obtained from the Rustenburg Local Municipality. Accordingly, I have been advised as follows:

All houses in formalised areas in Extension 2 Boitekong are electrified. The planned period for electricity provision to the new developments in Extension 2 Boitekong is during the 2024/25 financial year.

Reply:

The Departments of Cooperative Governance (DCoG) and Traditional Affairs (DTA) alongside the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) have not budgeted for financial donations and/or sponsorships in the (i) 2018-19, (ii) 2019-20, (iii) 2020-21 and (iv) 2021-22 financial years.

Reply:

1. The balance of overpaid project management fees to two Non-Profit Oganisations (NPOs) was R1 820 519,18 as at 31 March 2022.

2. The amount has been offset against retained project management fees due to the NPOs, leaving a balance of R287 305,79 due by one (1) NPO to the Department. This NPO is no longer in business and the Department’s attorneys are currently tracing the former Directors of the NPO in order to commence litigation.

3. The Department has engaged the National Treasury through the Chief Procurement Officer on a number of Community Works Programme (CWP) related matters, including the possible blacklisting of NPOs found to be in breach of their Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The discussions with the National Treasury are ongoing.

Reply:

It is the responsibility of the MEC for Local Government to invoke section 106 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000. The Department has been informed by the province that there has not been any invocation of section 106 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act at Makana Local Municipality.

Reply:

1. The total unconfirmed (maximum) amount of Community Works Programme (CWP) stipends paid to possible non-qualifying government employees for the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2020 was R6 300 997,00. This unconfirmed amount involves about 534 government employees in 62 national and provincial departments.

2. The  Director-General of the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG) in January 2022 wrote letters to the Directors-General and Heads of Department of all 62 departments to investigate the matter and to either confirm the allegations of double-dipping or to provide evidence to clear findings.  To date 25 departments responded to all findings and 37 departments have responded either partially or not at all.  Findings to the value of R369 640,50 have been cleared and findings to the value of R980 290,50 have been confirmed.  Of the confirmed findings, R769 226,00 is in the process of being recovered and R183 447,00 has been written off since the individuals have left government and are also no longer participating in the CWP. Litigation through the State Attorney is not economical as the individual amounts are small.

a) R12 090,00 has been recovered to date.

b) The Department cannot take disciplinary action directly against or recover funds from persons employed by other government departments.  It is the responsibility of the respective Accounting Officers to take disciplinary action and to recover funds.  The Auditor-General has been requested to also provide the details of findings to the audit managers of the 62 Departments to ensure that Accounting Officers take the necessary action.

Reply:

1. Traditional leaders who are remunerated are not permitted to simultaneously serve as remunerated public servants.

2. The Department of Traditional Affairs (DTA) does not have at its disposal, information on traditional leaders presently appointed in remunerated positions in the public service because such information is the competency of provincial departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

Reply:

a)  It is responsibility of municipalities working together with Department Transport to construct roads; and

b)  It is responsibility of municipalities working together with Department Water and Sanitation to provide water to communities.

It is recommended that this question be transferred to the relevant Ministries of the above-mentioned departments for written reply.

Reply:

The question by Honourable Member does not indicate what kind or type of training referred to in the above question. It is recommeded that the member be specific on what type of training is referring to in order for the department to respond accordingly.

Reply:

The question by the Honourable WF Faber is vague. It would assist the response if the Honourable Faber were to indicate the specific structures and/or fora external to Government to which he refers.

Reply:

The responsibility to determine the category of municipalities resides with the Municipal Demarcation Board.

Reply:

The Maquassi Hills and Mamusa Local Municipalities are currently not under intervention in terms of Section 139 (7) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

Reply:

All official government policy and review documents must be widely consulted with and made known to the public in all its manifestations.

Reply:

a) (i) (ii)

The total amount that was allocated to the Commission for Khoi-San Matters (i) during the 2021-22 financial year was R6,320,135,18 and in the 2022-23 financial year R9,781,111.00

The following table indicates the (b) Breakdown of expenditure on (i) traveling, (ii) accommodation and (iii) administration for the public meetings per province as at the beginning of October 2022:

Reply:

(a) and (b) No, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) will not use the Report on the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegation of State Capture to investigate whether the Departments and/or Entities reporting to her contributed towards state capture.

(a) On reading the various reports, there is an indication that there are no parts of the report that are relevant to the Departments and Entities reporting to the Minister of COGTA. Although, there are certain issues affecting a municipality that were highlighted in the report, there are no specific findings and/or recommendations in relation to the affected municipality. Officials from the Department have collaborated with officials from the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) to assess all the recommendations emanating from the various reports of the Commission. Should this broader assessment in collaboration with the DPME identify matters that require my attention, I will ensure that the necessary steps are taken, especially where legislative or institutional changes would be required and prepare motivated implementation plans, indicating how each recommendation ought to be addressed.

(b) Not applicable.

Reply:

1. No. The President of the Republic of South Africa assented to the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Act No. 3 of 2022 on 17 August 2022 which Act will be operational on 1 November 2022. New regulations relating to this matter will be finalised and gazzeted in due course.

2. The Minister of COGTA will not make a statement on the matter.

Reply:

Government engaged in a consultation process to recognise the 5 groupings of Khoi-San namely the Griqua, Koranna, Nama, San and Cape-Khoi as per the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act, 2019 (Act No. 3 of 2019).

Should there be any evidence submitted to government of the existence of an additional Khoi-San main grouping other than the Cape-Khoi, Griqua, Koranna, Nama or San, government will consider amending the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act to include that main grouping.

Reply:

(a) (i) The Honurable Member may request the National Treasury for the full allocations for government as a whole. For its part the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG) has allocated a total of R516 748 000 from the Municipal Disaster Relief Grant. This does not include allocations in terms of Reprioritisation and Reallocations made by other sector departments.

(ii) The Honourable Member may contact the Solidarity Fund for the information requested.  

(b)

Reply:

The oversight role over water services institutions as per the Water Services Act is the responsibility of the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), and this question should be referred to that relevant Department for reply.

Reply:

It is the competency of South African Police service to conduct exhumation of bodies. It is recommended that this question be redirected to Ministry of Police to respond accordingly.

Reply:

It is responsibility of Municipalities working together with Department of Water and Sanitation to provide water to communities. It is recommended that the question be redirected to the Ministry of Water and Sanitation as a lead department.

Reply:

No. Cable theft and vandalism in municipalities is criminal element which must be dealt with by South African Police Service. It is recommended that the question be redirected to the Ministry of Police to respond to the question accordingly.

Reply:

The Honourable Member is requested to note that the Department does not have at its disposal the information he is requesting. However, he will be furnished with the information as soon as it is received from the Province as matters relating to chieftaincies (senior traditional leadership) are the competence of provincial government.

Reply:

(a) In terms of item 7 of the Notice on upper limits of salaries, allowances and benefits in respect of different members of municipal councils, a councillor designated by the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) to serve in its governance structures is entitled to an allowance not exceeding R1103.23 per day, irrespective of the number of meetings attended by such councillor on a specific day.

(b) (i)   According to information obtained from SALGA, fifteen (15) activities and thirty-four (34) meetings were held during the 2019/ 20 financial year, as follows:

Reply:

No measures have been put in place to recruit and permanently employ fieldworkers and data capturers as the department does not employ fieldworkers and data captures.            

Reply:

The information requested by the Honourable Member is not within the perview of the Department Coorperative Governance and Traditional Affairs but that of Police. It is recommended that the question be transferred to Ministry of Police.

Reply:

I am informed by the Departments of Cooperative Governance, Traditional Affairs and the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) as follows:

1.

(i) No employees are currently working from home on a permanent basis.

(ii) No employees have special permission to work from home.

(iii) Not Applicable

(b) Not Applicable

2. No, I will not make a statement on the matter.

Reply:

1. (a) During the period of the 6th Parliament until 2 September 2022, the Minister received about 489 Parliamentary questions from the National Assembly of which (i) around 439 were for written reply and (ii) roughly 50 were for oral reply; (b) approximately 163 written reply, and about 6 oral reply and (c) around 169 of the parliamentary questions posed to the Department relate to service delivery matters in municipalities. The responses are solicited from the respective municipalities and provincial government departments.

2. There were no municipalities that refused to provide answers to parliamentary questions received, however some responses were not within the 10 working days timeframe as per Parliamentary prescripts.

3. Not applicable.

Reply:

The Auditor-General’s report does not paint a picture of a glaringly deteriorating state of local government audit outcomes between the 2016/17 to 2020/21 financial years. The most recent “Consolidated General Report on Local Government Audit Outcomes” reflects improvement on unqualified audit opinions. In 2019/20, 128 municipalities obtained unqualified audit opinions for both unqualified audit opinions with no findings and with findings, and in 2020/21, 141 municipalities obtained unqualified audit opinions for both unqualified with no findings and with findings. We may not have moved leaps and bounds, but steadily we are making progress toward improving the audit opinion outcomes by the Auditor-General.

1. Political parties must send ethical leaders to municipalities, the ethical leadership at both political and administration is critical in stabilization of municipalities. The local government audit outcomes and CoGTA’s State of Local Government report confirms the correlation between failures in governance as a main driver for poor performance and undesired audit outcomes. To address the challenges, the Municipal Support and Intervention Plans (MSIPs) Framework has been developed by CoGTA, Provinces, SALGA and National Treasury to provide guidance on the development, implementation and the monitoring of the MSIPs. 

On the 20th September 2022, the Minister will be launching the Local Government Anti-Corruption Forum and the Local Government Ethical Leadership Initiative in collaboration with key stakeholders. The Local Government Ethical Leadership Initiative project aims to facilitate a national dialogue on ethical leadership in municipalities, culminating in the development of a Code for Ethical Governance for municipalities that sets out the principles and practices for ethical governance and leadership in local government.

1. The stability of municipal administrations is an important component both in building capacity and in creating a conducive environment. To strengthen institutional capacity, the Minister promulgated the Local Government: Municipal Staff Regulations which regulations prescribe minimum competency requirements for staff below senior management. This should be viewed as a game changer in the professionalization of local government. The Department also intends rolling out the prototype staff establishment project in municipalities to address challenges in the organograms of municipalities.

The Department has, through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA), placed civil and electrical engineers in all provinces to assist municipalities in planning and executing of infrastructure projects. The focus of these engineers is on poor performing municipalities and those that lack technical capacity to deal with service delivery.

Reply:

No, I have not assessed the viability of assigning any statutory power and/or function to members of Provincial Executive Councils and/or Municipal Councils in terms of section 99 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

Reply:

I received communication which had information on a forensic investigation conducted at the Umuziwabantu Local Municipality and I responded by referring the matter to the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province. I have not received the final forensic report and its findings. I have since requested that the uMuziwabantu Local Municipality shares a copy of the report with the Department, which report I will submit to Parliament once I have received same.

Reply:

1. Yes, there are improvements in the performance of some municipalities mentioned that are placed under administration, particularly the Amahlathi and Walter Sisulu Local Municipalities as follows:

Amahlathi Local Municipality

In Amahlathi, a functional Audit Committee was established, the financial delegations were instituted, negotiations with creditors were undertaken, a financial turnaround-plan was adopted by the Municipal Council, improved legislative compliance was registered in that the annual report and financial statements were prepared and submitted, and meetings were held according to the schedule of ordinary Municipal Council meetings. As a result, there have been improvements in the Audit Outcomes from qualified audit opinion in 2018/19 to unqualified audit opinion in 2019/20 and 2020/21financial years.

Walter Sisulu Local Municipality

In Walter Sisulu, the improvements noted included the filling of critical vacancies such as the Municipal Manager, the Chief Financial Officer, and General Manager: Corporate Services. There have been improvements in the functionality of the human resource component, the supply chain management policy was developed and implemented for the running of the procurement management processes. Regrettably these improvements did not translate into an improved audit outcome, albeit work continues to improve the audit opinion obtained.

Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality

The Eastern Cape Provincial Executive in August 2018 placed Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality under administration in terms of Section 139 (1)(b) and (5) of the Constitution. The intervention did not yield any positive results, particularly as it related to the implementation of the Financial Recovery Plan.

Cabinet invoked section 139(7) of the Constitution, read with section 150 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003, wherein Cabinet imposed a Financial Recovery Plan (FRP) and assumed the responsibility for the implementation thereof.

A National Cabinet Representative was appointed to lead the intervention with a team of specialists in April 2022. To compliment efforts by the National Treasury, the Minister of COGTA appointed a Task Team to support the efforts of the NCR. It is still early to tell if there are any improvements yet as work is ongoing and may take time to address all issues of concern.

Raymond Mhlaba and Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipalities

Contrary to the view of the Honorable Member, the Raymond Mhlaba and Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipalities were never placed under administration.

1. No, the department has no intention of putting more municipalities under administration. The responsibility to intervene in a Municipality is vested with the Provincial Government in terms of section 139 (1) – (5). It is only when the provincial government fails to intervene in such a dysfunctional Municipality or when such intervention yields no tangible results, that the national government would consider putting such a municipality under national intervention in terms of Section 139(7) of the Constitution.

Reply:

(1) The District Development Model (DDM) approach was approved by Cabinet in August 2019.  Cabinet also approved that the DDM should be piloted in three areas, namely eThekwini (Kwa-Zulu Natal), OR Tambo (Eastern Cape) and Waterberg (Limpopo).  Subsequently, the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) on 3 March 2020 to act as the implementing agent to the department for the establishment of the Programme Management Office (PMO) and rolling out Phase 1 of the DDM in the three pilots.

(a)    The total actual expenditure incurred as at 28 February 2022 amounted to R88,2 million.

(b)    The funding was spent on the establishment of the PMO and the three pilot districts, namely eThekwini, OR Tambo and Waterberg.

(c)    The following DDM projects were funded from the expenditure mentioned in (a) above:

1. Establishment of the PMO (staffing and operational costs);
2. Establishment of the three pilot hubs (staffing and operational costs);
3. Strengthening the capacity of the National Disaster Management Centre (staffing costs);
4. Development of the One Plans for the three pilots;
5. Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF) – development of four (4) Capital Expenditure Frameworks and five (5) Infrastructure Asset Management Plans for identified Intermediate City Municipalities;
6. Development of the National Local Economic Development Implementation Plan;
7. Conducting of a feasibility study for the implementation of Shared Services in OR Tambo and Waterberg pilots;
8. Development of the DDM Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation Framework and associated draft Process and Procedure Manual; and
9. Development of the DDM Information Management System solution architecture, cloud hosting environment and One Plan prototype.

(2) No, the Minister does not intend to make statement on the matter.

Reply:

This question should be directed to the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) because in terms of the National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998), the DWS is responsible for the regulation of water use in South Africa by ensuring that water is allocated equitably and used beneficially in the public interest. Furthermore, the DWS is mandated to protect, manage and control the groundwater resources of the country.

It is hereby recommended that this PQ 2284 be re-directed to the Department of Water and Sanitation in accordance with their mandate provided by the relevant legislation.

Reply:

1. I have been advised by the Department of Cooperative Governance that the following response is based on information that was obtained from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on persons that are presently serving as members of municipal councils, and which was subsequently forwarded to the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) to verify their details against records that are maintained on the Personal and Salary System (PERSAL).

a) According to the information provided by the DPSA, there are 281 total number of public servants that are currently serving as councillors in the municipal councils as at 31 May 2022.

b) The tables below provide the national and provincial departmental breakdown of the specified councillors, respectively:

i. National Departments

ii. Provincial Departments

Reply:

I have been advised by the Department of Traditional Affairs that the court judgement directed that the matter be referred to the family to start the process of identifying the rightful heir anew and the Kwa-Zulu Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has advised that they are facilitating the process. The KZN province has further indicated that after initial delays emanating from them seeking legal advice on the matter, they are now in the process of formalising the withdrawal of recognition of ibamba and the reinstatement of inkosi in his position.

Reply:

In terms of section 139(7) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, the national executive must intervene in terms of section 139(4) or (5) if the provincial executive cannot or does not adequately exercise the powers or perform the functions referred to in subsection 139(4) or (5) of the Constitution. 

The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG), as part of the Inter-Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) chaired by the Deputy President, His Excellency Mr David Mabuza, on electricity with the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), National Treasury (NT), the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), Eskom and the Department of Energy (DE), is leading a responsible citizenry campaign to educate consumers on the benefits of paying for municipal services and rates. All Departments are also required to support the campaign by ensuring that they settle their debt with municipalities. Stakeholder engagements have been undertaken with various municipalities to discuss the support and the institutionalisation of the campaign in each municipality. 

In line with the Inter-governmental Relations Framework Act, the Department appointed inter-governmental dispute resolution facilitators in all provinces to deal with inter-governmental disputes and to process and verify the amount of debt owed by organs of state to municipalities, and in turn the debt owed by municipalities to Eskom and water boards.

Reply:

Government has not introduced additional legislation on the slaughtering of animals in urban areas for customary purposes. These practices are currently guided by municipal by-laws and guidelines which are also informed by the Abattoirs Hygiene Act. The CRL Rights Commission has also released a Guidelines Report on the African Ritual of animal slaughter. The Report notes, amongst others, that seeking a municipality’s permission to slaughter should be encouraged and approached as a courtesy, as no municipality may refuse an individual’s right to slaughter animals.

Municipal by-laws are there to ensure that the slaughtering of animals is not done in an inhumane manner and takes into consideration applicable health requirements as well as the rights of others. In the recent work done by the CRL Rights Commission on the review of by-laws that impact on the slaughtering of animals for cultural and religious purposes in the 8 Metropolitan Municipalities in the previous financial year, the Commission observed that the time period for application for slaughtering of animals in some of the Metropolitan Municipalities needs to be revised to accommodate slaughtering for funerals. Similarly, the Commission found that in other municipalities, the by-laws need to be made more explicit when it comes to expectations regarding slaughtering in a residential area. As part of its intervention to assist, the Commission is arranging to meet with these municipalities to take these matters forward.

Based on the above work of the Commission and its on-going engagements with affected municipalities, we believe that it may not be necessary to promulgate national legislation at this stage. However, in the meantime where communities feel that they face discrimination when they want to slaughter for cultural purpose, they may liaise with the CRL Rights Commission for the necessary assistance.

Reply:

a) Maintenance of Roads

The current road infrastructure network is in a very poor state within the Municipality and maintenance needs to be prioritised. On 02 May 2022, The Acting HOD: Engineering Services commenced his services, and the critical road maintenance areas were identified for urgent attention and priority. Road maintenance is dependent on a fully functioning fleet department within the municipality which is operating at suboptimal level.

Current interventions and priorities on Road Maintenance

The municipality has urgently undertaken roads assessments to identify the critical roads in needs of repairs. These repairs are categorised as pothole repairs and complete re-sealing of critical roads. There are continuous pothole repairs on-going across the metro and re-sealing of roads of estimated 18,8km of length which has started 25 May 2022 and will be complete by end of June 2022. The current benefitting areas are Ward 19(Vista Park), Ward 30(Botshabelo), Ward 31(Botshabelo) and Ward 41(Thaba Nchu). The road maintenance will continue as planned from July 2022 onwards.

(b) Removal of Solid Waste on a sustainability basis (Integrated Waste Management)

Current interventions and priorities

• Maintenance - Southern Landfill site was inaccessible due to the lack of maintenance and illegal dumping around access roads.
• Resources was deployed to clean access roads.
• Law enforcement was deployed to assist with enforcement of illegal dumping around entrances.
• Workers from the Presidential Employment Programme (PEP) were deployed to assist with cleaning.
• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment has procured the services of a contractor for 12 months to assist on the Southern Landfill site.
• Commencement date of the service provider was 01 June 2022. However, the service provider is not on site yet. The Intervention Team planned meeting with management from the service provider on 16 June 2022 for planning and identification of critical activities.
• Vehicle reallocation from the Southern to Northern site will commence as soon as the service provider is on site to assist with maintenance and operational matters on the Southern site. This will also provide augment maintenance of current fleet that is not operational.
• Fleet assessment -Fleet status quo analysis has been conducted to determine critical fleet that needs urgent attention. As mentioned, the current compactor fleet that deliver domestic waste collection is currently operating at under 40%, that make it impossible to deliver proper domestic waste collection within the Metro.

Key priorities for waste and fleet management in the next 30 days.

• Provide status quo and request support and intervention by the Acting Chief Financial Officer.
• Provide status quo and request support and assistance from National Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment for possible assistance regarding Yellow Fleet by:
• Revisit current waste collection practices to streamline service in line with current challenges.
• Development of strategies to strengthen management oversight and accountability and consequence management.
• Standardisation of reporting mechanisms to ward councillors
• Boost and improve morale of workers.

Summary

The success of the intervention as well as the efforts to stabilize the current dysfunctional Waste Management system of the Municipality will and must be supported by proper tools and equipment. The Intervention Team is committed to provide the necessary direction and support to stabilize the current challenges experienced by our communities. Further interaction is urgently needed between Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment and National Treasury to investigate measures of support as most of the grand funding resources within the Municipality has been allocated in the 2022/2023 budget.  

Reply:

Revenue Management

As part of revenue raising mechanisms, the Intervention Team will be undertaking stakeholder engagement including Premier’s Office and Public Works to discuss and agree on payment arrangement of outstanding debt owed to the Municipality by government departments.

Regarding disconnection of water services and collections, the Municipality has insufficient institutional capacity and resources to execute disconnections. Therefore, the Intervention Team will source expertise to assist with issuing notices to discontinue services of non-paying consumers failing to conclude payment arrangements with the municipality.

In addition, The Intervention Team is partnering with CENTLEC (municipal entity responsible for electricity reticulation and distribution) by entering Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen coordinate efforts and strategies to collect debt generally owed to the Municipality.

Expenditure Management

The intervention team is implementing corrective measures to reduce excessive overtime and acting allowances that has been paid in the past. These includes enforcing the legislative requirement that pre-approval is to be obtained for any overtime to be worked, limiting the monthly overtime to between 40 - 60 hours per employee where overtime is to be worked and filling of critical vacancies that are funded. 

The repairs and maintenance of critical service delivery fleet and equipment is to be prioritized to further alleviate excessive and unauthorized overtime expenditures. This will also by and large significantly reduce the expenditure on contracted services provided there is proper planning, coordination, and control of resources by responsible departments within the city.

The Intervention Team has commenced discussions with Bloemwater on cost of bulk water supply which is unfordable to the Metro. The Metro is in discussions with Bloemwater to review the current outdated service level agreement and review bulk water tariffs. There is a plan to refurbish and upgrade the Masselpoort Water Treatment Plant in the 2022/23 budget year which will diversify the Metro’s sorurces for bulk water supply. The Intervention Team is currently implementing water conservation demand management plan whereby it is envisaging to reduce water losses from 46% to below 20% within the next five years.

Reply:

a) The Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM) was officially placed under section 139(5)(a) and (c) intervention by the Free State Provincial Executive Council on 19 December 2019, due to a financial and service delivery crisis in the municipality.  However, no significant progress has been made to implement the Financial Recovery Plan developed by National Treasury as a result of significant political interference in the administrative functioning of the Metro.  Cabinet received a formal request from the Provincial Executive for a national intervention.

b) Cabinet approved a national intervention in terms of Section 139(7) of the Constitution on 6 April 2022 to create stability and improve service delivery in Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality.  A National Cabinet Representative supported by a multi-disciplinary team of experts are being deployed with responsibilities that will amongst others ensure and oversee the execution by the Accounting Officer of the functions referred to in Section 67(1)(h) and Schedule 2 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act No. 32 of 2000), read with any other relevant legislative provisions dealing with disciplinary matters, including criminal, disciplinary and civil action.

Reply:

Subsequent to the release of the 2020/21 Local Government Audit Outcomes by the Auditor General of South Africa, we issued a media release on 15 June 2022. We noted the improvements in the number of municipalities with unqualified audit outcomes. In addition we outlined the department’s position and interventions in place to assist under-performing municipalities.

The media release is attached herewith as annexure A.

Reply:

The reply below was provided by UThukela District Municipality:

1. The Ownership of Zakheni Water Treatment 

     (a) Ownership of specified property

     The plant is owned and operated by uThukela District Municipality (WSA)

(b)  Legal Contract for the use of the property

By virtue, the plant was transferred from Local Municipality to the (WSA) and therefore the property belong to the DIstrict hence this no no contract obligation.

(c) Rental Payable to the owner of the property

None - the District owns the Property.

(2)      National Key Point Status

The Ezakheni plant supply only 9 wards out of 37 ward in Alfred Duma Local Municipality therefore it currently not a National key Point. The District will therefore need to be guided in terms of the National Key Point Act 102 of 1980 South African Government. 

Reply:

It is recommended that the question be transferred to the National Treasury as they have overview of the funds returned by the municipalities, causes of the inability to spend their budgets and the corrective measures to deal with this challenge.

Reply:

a. Department of Cooperative Governance & MISA

During the last five years, the Department has found no ghost workers within its system. No ghost employees were found within the Department of Cooperative Governance and MISA in the past five years. The department and MISA conducts regular employee verification and ensures payroll certification by employees monthly.

b.Community Work Programme

(i) & (ii) The Department identified that some implementing agents made payments to 909 deceased participants totalling R2,483,605.50.

(iii) Payments to deceased participants are being recovered from CWP Implementing Agents.

Reply:

The department is currently obtaining the responses from the abovementioned munucipalities and we will provide response as soon as we receive it.

Reply:

(1) (a) (i) and (ii)A person appointed as the head of the provincial disaster management centre is responsible for the exercise by the centre of its powers and the performance of its duties. Mr Sibongiseni Ngema has been appointed as the Head: KZN Provincial Disaster Management Centre in terms of the Public Service Act.

(b)The Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PDMC) was established in 2007.

(c) The budget allocation that is accessible on the financial system depicts the following allocation

The system could not retrieve information dating back beyond 2018 as Disaster Management did not have a separate vote. The budget was under Programme 3. 

(2) The Department of Cooperative Governance does not keep records of the provincial government. The Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PDMC) indicated that due to the changes in staff and technology, it is difficult to access the information dating back to 2007. The Provincial Disaster Management requires at least a month to locate these documents and furnish them to Ms E L Powell. This is mainly because the staff at the PDMC is still busy assisting with the coordination and supporting the stabilisation and recovery, the rehousing of people who have lost homes and restoring provision of services as a result of the flood disaster that have taken place.

Reply:

The response below were provided by the Kagisano-Molopo Local Municipality.

There is a plan in place for implementing the project in 2022/23 Municipal FY under the Bulk infrastructure cluster funded by DWS under RBIG. The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has confirmed that the Engineers/Consultants are busy with the design and finalization of the technical report which will be presented to the department for approval of the funding under the 2022/23 Municipal Financial Year, which starts on the 01 July 2022.

With regards to electricity, Esdale village is electrified, However, there is few newly built homes which have not yet received electricity. The municipality applies every financial year to Eskom for electrification of infills and Esdale will be included in 2023/2024 municipal financial year.