Questions and Replies

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.

Reply:

(a) The Executive Mayor, Councillor Ndikinda issued a media statement condemning the assault of the Councilor Rulashe and committed to investigate the matter further. In addition the ADM has been visited by several delegation from Minister of CoGTA and MEC to engage relevant parties affected by the incident. (b) The Executive Mayor requested protection services for Councilor Rulashe from the MEC for Safety and Liaison in the Province. Furthermore, a Threat and Risk Assessemnt report by Crime Intelligence was recieved whereby protection services were commissioned for three months to Councilor Rulashe. The Executive Mayor launched a preliminary report whose findings were reported to Council where it was resolved that an external independant legal firm be commissioned to conduct full investigation and report on its findings. Further steps taken by ADM is that the ADM official responsible for the incident was suspended, secondly a correspondence was made to the Secuirty Company to take disciplinary steps on their employees involved on the incident. 

Reply:

The department is currently obtaining the response from the District Munucipality and we will provide response as soon as we receive it.

Reply:

1. Government is extremely concerned about the killing of traditional leaders, I have requested the Minister of Police to put together a team to investigate this matter. We have also raised the matter with the Kwa-Zulu Natal CoGTA and they have advised that they are collaborating with law enforcement agencies. A number of interventions have been effected including entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Community Safety and Liaison and the Provincial House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders, hosting of Imbizo’s in all eleven (11) Districts and a Provincial Imbizo to listen to the views of traditional leaders and reporting this matter to the Justice Crime Prevention and Security Cluster (JCPS) and the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Executive Council that has directed that the Provincial Priority Committee on Chieftaincy be re-established as a sub-committee of the Provincial Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure and further that the incidents of killings of traditional leaders be filtered within the Provincial Peace and Stability Strategy.

(2) A Commission of inquiry has not been established; however, a number of interventions have been put into place including the establishment of the Community Safety Intervention Unit within the Department of Community Safety and Liaison to primarily deal with these violent crimes.

(3) The Provincial Department has advised that a total of twenty-six (26) arrests have been made.

Reply:

The National Disaster Management Centre each year monitors legislative compliance to the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002) in all Provincial Disaster Management Centres (PDMC) and two Municipal Disaster Management Centres (MDMC) located in each province. These assessments are done with the PDMC and then feedback is provided immediately on key issues that have been identified.  Provinces and each municipality to ensure that they comply with the requirements of the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002), including to develop and implement a comprehensive disaster management plan. The District Development Model (DDM), presents an opportunity that, in the context of “Joint One Plans” and  “One Budgets”, organs of state and institutional role-players will be able to coordinate and align the implementation of their disaster (risk) management plans within each District and Metropolitan space across the country.

Reply:

The below response was provided by the Mpumalanga province: 

1. The Emalahleni municipality section 106 investigation report has not yet been officially released by the provincial government.  The report is yet to be tabled before the provincial executive council and then be tabled before the municipal council for them to adopt and develop an action plan to respond to the findings. It would be premature to make any pronouncements on the contents of the report until it is tabled at both the executive council and the municipal council.

2. The report will be tabled before the municipal council after it has been tabled before the provincial executive council. 

(3) As indicated above the report has not yet been officially released by the provincial government.

(a) Not applicable.

(b) Not applicable.

(c) Not applicable.

(d) Not applicable.

(e) Not applicable.

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

No.	Year	Budget Allocated
1.	2018	R 51 017 000.00
2.	2019	R 65 218 000.00
3.	2020	R 48 229 000.00
4.	2021	R 17 083 000.00
5.	2022	R 52 583 000.00

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:

1. The bridges project mentioned in PQ 2027 belongs to Thulamela Local Municipality (TLM). The pertinent details of the project are outlined below.

The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) is responsible, in terms of section 154 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996 among others, to provide support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities including TLM to manage their own affairs, to exercise their powers and to perform their functions. To that end, DCOG through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) provides technical support to TLM in accordance with the District Development Model (DDM). The MISA technical support includes the following:

• Development or review of technical reports and other related documentation for project registration at project funding approval stage.
• Development and review of project planning documents, supporting with preparation of procurement documents for service providers.
• Support the municipality by giving technical advice, review reports submitted by the professional service provider appointed by TLM and conduct site inspections.

The cracks on the bridges are part of the defects that the contractor is required to fix within 21 days from the issue of the Practical Completion Certificate done on 23 May 2022. MISA conducts site visits and inspections to monitor the fixing of the defects as part of the support to TLM.

2. The contractor was instructed to fix the defects, which include the cracks, within 21 days. The days are counted from 23 May 2022 when the Practical Completion Certificate was issued as indicated in the background above.

Reply:

According to a report from the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM), MMM has just finalized the appointment of a contractor to attend to the flooding spots as and when required.

It is however expected that the acting senior personnel, including the Acting Municipal Manager and Acting Engineering Services Head of Department, will ensure that service delivery plans are in place within three (3) months, budgeted for and implemented. The service delivery plans will provide timelines.

The Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) will provide technical support to MMM with regard to infrastructure development and service delivery.

 

Reply:

This and other poor service delivery issues of Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM) were brought to our attention.

a) To that end Cabinet approved an intervention in terms of section 139 (7) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996 aiming to create stability and improve service delivery. DCOG is in the process of appointing senior managers as was highlighted in the background above.

b) It is expected that the acting senior personnel, including the Acting Municipal Manager and Acting Engineering Services Head of Department, will ensure that service delivery plans are in place within three (3) months, budgeted for and implemented to remedy the situation.

The Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) will provide technical support to MMM with regard to infrastructure development and service delivery.

Reply:

The Honourable Member is requested to refer the question to the National Treasury as they are well positioned to provide response on the issues raised. A number of measures have been put in place by National Treasury aimed at enhancing the tender system to ensure there is value for money.

Reply:

The Municipal Demarcation Board is responsible for delimiting metropolitan and local municipalities into wards, a Councillor representing a ward is elected by the voters registered in that specific ward. The finalisation of ward boundaries was informed by a comprehensive public participation and consultative process that was undertaken by the MDB, and the number of wards in the country increased from 4,392 in 2016 to 4,468 in 2021.

In terms of Section 73 of the Municipal Structures Act (as amended), metropolitan and local municipalities must establish ward committees within 120 days after the election of a municipal council. If the ward committee is not established within the 120 days, the Speaker must request the MEC for an extension. Section 73(3) of the Act requires metropolitan and local municipalities to make rules regulating the procedure to elect members of ward committees, taking into account the need to for women to be equitably represented in the committee and for a diversity of interests in the ward to be represented.

The Department is currently monitoring the establishment of ward committees in all metropolitan and local municipalities across the country.

Reply:

Water Service Authorities (WSAs) are required to monitor the quality of drinking water as per the South African National Standard 241 (SANS 241). The SANS 241 is a drinking water specification that provides the minimum requirements for potable water to be considered safe for human consumption. These requirements include microbiological, chemical and physical properties of water.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (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). The monitoring program indicates the sampling point, frequency of monitoring and what determinants are monitored. All the drinking water quality results must be uploaded on the IRIS as required.

According to DWS, DWS has resuscitated the Blue Drop Certification Programme which aims to address the challenges associated with the provision of water. This programme seeks to implement a proactive drinking water quality risk management approach to ensure that quality failures are minimised, but when and where it inevitably occurs that acceptable responses are implemented to safeguard affected communities.

In the event of non-compliance to provide access to potable water, section 63 of the Water Services Act, No. 108 of 1997 provides, among other things, as follows:

“(1) If a water services authority has not effectively performed any function imposed on it by or under this Act, the Minister (Minister of Water and Sanitation) may, in consultation with the Minister for Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development (then), request the relevant Province to intervene in terms of section 139 of the Constitution.

(2) If, within a reasonable time after the request, the Province—

(a) has unjustifiably failed to intervene; or

(b) has intervened but has failed to do so effectively, the Minister (Minister of Water and Sanitation) may assume responsibility for that function to the extent necessary—

• • 1. to maintain essential national standards;
    2. to meet established minimum standards for providing services…”

In light of the above, it is suggested that this parliamentary question be redirected to the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).

 

Reply:

(a) (i) The Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) is administered by the Department of Cooperative Governance with the aim of developing infrastructure to provide poor households with at least a basic level of service. Municipalities have been allocated R15,6 billion in 2021/22 that is aligned to the municipal financial year that will end on 30 June 2022.

Municipalities have reported expenditure on the MIG over the last 5 years 2016/17 - 2020/21) as follows:

Financial year	Transferred	Spent by receiving municipalities	% spent against transferred
2016/17	14,914,028	13,784,509	92.40%
2017/18	15,891,252	14,545,025	91.50%
2018/19	15,287,685	13,831,893	90.48%
2019/20	14,816,103	11,720,688	79.11%
2020/21	14,491,065	13,226,723	91.28%
Total	75,400,133	67,108,838	89.00%

Disaster Grant contribution to Infrastructure Development (NDMC):

Funding allocations have been done from the Disaster Grants within the NDMC to augment resources of affected organs of state regarding infrastructure development: The funds were allocated from the Municipal Disaster Relief Grant, Provincial Disaster Relief Grant and Municipal Disaster Recovery Grant mainly in addressing the drought conditions in affected provinces and municipalities. The allocations were as follows:

Financial years	Type of grants	Amounts transferred	Purpose of allocation
2017/2018	Municipal Disaster Relief Grant	R341 373 000	Drought interventions: Infrastructure
	Provincial Disaster Relief Grant	R78 000 000
2018/2019	Municipal Disaster Recovery Grant	R 1 025 484 000
2019/2020	No disaster grant allocations
2020/2021	Provincial Disaster Relief Grant	R138 489 000
2021/2022	Municipal Disaster Relief Grant	R 173 132 000
	Provincial Disaster Relief Grant	R48 100 000
Total (infrastructure development)	R1 804 578 000

(ii) According to the MIG Framework, which stipulates the conditions under which the funds allocated to municipalities must be used, indicates that funds for the maintenance of roads must be in line with the maintenance priorities identified through the Rural Roads Asset Management System (RRAMS) administered by the Department of Transport. Although this provision has been made within the MIG no maintenance on roads maintenance has been funded form the MIG within the last 5 years.

(b) MIG receiving municipalities reported that:

- In 2019/20 MIG allocations were reprioritised in April 2020 to address Covid-19 related areas. The expenditure reported on projects was R204 million.
- In 2020/21 (period 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2022) MIG receiving municipalities reported expenditure of R609 million.

Disaster Grant allocation to Covid-19 response measures

Financial years	Type of grants	Amounts transferred	Purpose of allocation
2019/2020	Provincial Disaster Relief Grant	R 466 392 000	Covid-19 response measures
2020/2021	Municipal Disaster Relief Grant	R150 970 000
Total (Covid-19)	R617 362 000

(c)

Financial years	Type of grant	Amounts transferred	Purpose of allocation
2016/2017	No disaster grant allocations
2017/2018	Municipal Disaster Recovery Grant	R26 147 000	Interventions to sinkhole formation conditions
		R16 304 000	Interventions to storm damages
2018/2019		R200 654 000
2019/2020	No disaster grant allocations
2020/2021	Municipal Disaster Relief Grant	R157 137 000
Total (flood and storm damage interventions)	R400 242 000

(d) (i) The total amount of R14,7 billion was transferred to the eThekwini over the last 5 years and (ii) R909 million had to be returned to the National Fiscus.

The eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality has received various grants (conditional and unconditional) from the national fiscus over the last five years to assist with infrastructure development. They are:

• Municipal Emergency Housing Grant
• Neighbourhood Development Partnership Grant
• Integrated National Electrification Programme (Municipal) Grant
• Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management Grant
• Municipal Disaster Recovery Grant
• Public Transport Network Grant
• Urban Settlements Development Grant
• Integrated City Development Grant

Financial tear	Grants received	Actual Expenditure reported	Total unspent	Approved Rollover	Amount to be returned
2016/17	2,976,972	2,948,818	28,154	-	28,154
2017/18	3,036,370	2,700,090	336,280	554	335,726
2018/19	2,984,325	2,482,135	502,190	2,662	499,528
2019/20	3,189,069	3,120,680	68,389	32,449	35,940
2020/21	2,515,345	2,497,398	17,947	8,528	9,419
Total	14,702,081	13,749,121	952,960	44,193	908,767

National Treasury

(ii) The total amount of R908.7 million was recorded as unspent conditional grants by the National Treasury (this amount has since returned to the NRF). This amount excludes the grants allocated for operational purposes, unconditional grants, indirect grants and the rollover approved amount of R44.2 million. 

Reply:

The Department has no commercial contracts with the government of the Russian Federation

Reply:

Moses Kotane Local Municipality (MKLM) provided for installation of high mast lights in Ward 6 in its current 3-year capital budget plan and 2021/22 Integrated Development Plan. According to MMKLM, MKLM installed high mast lights in Motlhabe village in Ward 6 this financial year and has planned to install high mast lights in Mapaputle and Molorwe villages in Ward 6 in the 2022/23 financial year by the 30th of June 2023.

Reply:

Makhado Local Municipality (MLM) is currently constructing the culvert bridge and the progress on the 3rd of May 2022 is as per pictures below. According to MLM, the completion date is the 31st of May 2022.

Reply:

The public finances are governed by legislative prescripts and regulatory frameworks that stipulate the conditions including the roles and responsibilities of all relevant stakeholders. It is therefore important that the accounting officers of organs of state and stakeholders ensure that funds are utilised in accordance with the applicable regulatory frameworks. For the response and recovery measures of the recent flooding, government through relevant organs of state has strengthened the monitoring systems through the following key measures:

1. Tracking of expenditure by National Treasury where changes to the fund and project segment have been implemented in the Basic Accounting System (BAS),
2. Tracking procurement where all institutions affected by the flood disaster must report to National Treasury all procurement transactions related to flood interventions,
3. Real time auditing by the Office of the Auditor-General focussing on the following areas:

Prevention – testing the implementation of the preventative controls and the remaining risks will be reported to the accounting officer/authority, 

Detection - high-risk transactions will be subjected to an audit and key observations reported to the accounting officer/authority; and

Reporting on work done by the AGSA, the outcome thereof and the responses by accounting officers and authorities to any weaknesses identified are reported in a special report. The audits are meant to provide independent assurance on whether public funds have been appropriately accounted for and were used for its intended purpose.

Reply:

The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) will be strengthening the support to municipalities in the following:

• The development and implementation of disaster management plans as per Sections 38, 39, 52 and 53 of the Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002;
• The assessment of submitted disaster management plans to check amongst others the level of compliance with the Disaster Management Act as well as the alignment with the guidelines on “development and structure of a disaster management plan”.
• Whether these plans incorporate disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation measures for inclusion into municipal programmes and projects as required for by the priorities and targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030).
• Engagement sessions with municipalities and Provincial Disaster Management Centres within respective provinces to discuss the respective assessment feedbacks. 

DCOG will continue to collaborate with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) in supporting the district municipalities to develop the district climate change adaptation plans as well as providing capacity building programmes to the district municipalities on climate change with the view to facilitate mainstreaming of climate consideration into the municipal planning system. This will be done with the development of various tools such as Greenbook and Let-respond Toolkit which are aimed at offering the municipality with tools that could be used in planning for climate change response.

The above-mentioned inter-institutional support complements the current and planned work of the NDMC on disaster management planning and Impact Based Early Warning training with the South African Weather Service. The NDMC and the South African Weather Service will conduct Impact Based training for all districts in KZN for the 2022/23 financial year. The South African Weather Service and the NDMC will continue issuing of weekly Impact Based Early Warnings for approaching severe weather systems, especially in eastern coastal area. The NDMC will continue to distribute seasonal plans to all disaster management stakeholders highlighting hazard prone areas for medium term planning. and informed decision-making.

Reply:

(a) Provincial Disaster Management Plan (s)

It is encouraging to note that all provinces submitted their disaster management plans to the NDMC. Following submission of the plans by these organs of state, the NDMC assesses them to check amongst others the following:

• Level of compliance with the Disaster Management Act of 2002, other relevant legislative frameworks, policies and bylaws.
• Alignment with the guidelines on “development and structure of a disaster management plan”.
• Whether these plans incorporate disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation measures for inclusion into sector programmes and projects as required for by the priorities and targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030).

The NDMC further provides written feedback as well as hold engagement sessions on this feedback with provinces through Provincial Disaster Management Centres (PDMCs) as the custodians of these plans.

(b) District Disaster Management Plan (s) 

It is encouraging to note that 38 District Municipalities and 7 Metropolitan Municipalities submitted their disaster management plans to the NDMC. Following submission of the plans by these organs of state, the NDMC develops the “municipal support schedule” in line with the APP project to “provide support to a number of municipalities in priority disaster areas to prevent, prepare and mitigate disaster risks through implementation of applicable disaster management plans”. In line with the developed Support Schedule, the NDMC assesses these identified disaster management plans to check amongst others the following:

• Level of compliance with the Disaster Management Act of 2002, other relevant legislative frameworks, policies and bylaws.
• Alignment with the guidelines on “development and structure of a disaster management plan”.
• Whether these plans incorporate disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation measures for inclusion into sector programmes and projects as required for by the priorities and targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030). 

The NDMC further provides written feedback as well as hold engagement sessions with municipalities and PDMCs in the provinces within which municipalities whose disaster management plans were assessed belong. The NDMC further developed the “Support Plan” to assist and guide municipalities to address identified challenges prohibiting them to develop fit-for-purpose disaster management plans. Also, the NDMC developed “Guidelines on the integration of DRR, IDPs and DDM-One Plans of each District and Metropolitan Municipalities”. Both (Guidelines and the Support Plan) will be rolled out in all the provinces through the Provincial Disaster Management Centres (PDMC) for the duration of the current financial year. The  DG of DCOG regularly writes letters to Accounting Officers within provinces and municipalities for non-submission of, as well as a reminder to update and review their plans that were previously developed and are outdated.

To complement all NDMC efforts in (a) and (b) above, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) supported all district municipalities to develop the district climate change adaptation plans. Furthermore, all provinces have been supported to develop their provincial climate change adaptation strategies. DFFE further provided capacity building programmes on climate change to all district municipalities with the view to facilitate mainstreaming of climate change considerations into the municipal planning system. This was done with the development of various tools such as Greenbook and Let-respond Toolkit which are aimed at offering municipalities with tools that could be used for climate change response planning. All the inter-institutional support complements the current and planned work of the NDMC on disaster management planning and Impact Based Early Warning training that the NDMC does with the South African Weather Service. In the 2022/23 financial year, the NDMC and SAWS will conduct Impact Based training for all districts in KZN. Both will continue to issue weekly Impact Based Early Warnings for the approaching severe weather systems, especially in the eastern coastal area. The NDMC Autumn and Winter seasonal plans highlighting hazard prone areas will also be distributed to all disaster management stakeholders in the province of KZN for the medium-term planning.

Reply:

It is important to note that the Fire Brigade Services Act, 1987 (Act 99 of 1987) is the primary legislation regulating the provision of fire services. Section 5 (1)  a controlling authority shall appoint a person who possesses the prescribed qualifications and experience, as chief fire officer to be in charge of its service. In response to the above questions:

a) What  action has she taken to hold municipalities accountable for such irregularities?

The Directorate facilitated the process of developing Fire Service career path as part of Municipal Staff Regulations which will come into effect from 1 July 2022.

b) What oversight mechanisms has her Department implemented to monitor the redress of the situation?                                                

The Department is in the process of developing an oversight mechanism for Municipal Fire Services career path once the Regulations is effective. The Directorate will monitor and support the implementation of the Municipal Staff Regulations.

The link to the Municipal Staff Regulations is below

https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202109/45181gon891.pdf

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Reply:

1. (a) and (b) Yes. The Department was consulted on the development of a framework aimed at professionalising the public service and its inputs were shared with the Department of Public Service and Administration. A copy of the submission is annexured hereto.

2. Apart from participating in various processes during the development of the said framework, the Department recently promulgated the Municipal Staff Regulations setting out uniform standards and procedures governing career incidents of municipal staff below management echelon. The Regulations were consulted with the Minister of Public Service and Administration whose valuable inputs were received and incorporated into the Regulations.

BACKGROUND:

1. Government in its transformation role of enuring that South Africa becomes a truly nonracial and democratic country, it continues to be grappling with developmental challenges. To respond to these challenges, in 2012, government adopted the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030 as a long-term strategic goal to address the triple challenges of reducing poverty, inequality and unemployment. In the context of the role of the state, Chapter 13 of the NDP envisions South Africa as a Capable and Developmental State. The NDP further makes an assertion that the state needs to play a transformative and developmental role. Accordingly, this requires a well-run and effectively coordinated state institutions with skilled public servants who are committed to the public good and capable of delivering consistently high quality services, while prioritising the nation’s developmental objectives.

2. To realise the above mentioned NDP 2030 vision, in 2018, the Public Service Commission conducted a roundtable discussion on the professionalisation of the pubic service. The roundtable recommended that the implemnentaion of key recommendations in Chapter 13 of the NDP need to be fasttracked, led by Office of the President. These include the creation of the Administrative Head of the Public Service and a strengtherned role for the Public Service Commission. It further recommended that the DPSA should be the champion of the project to professionalise the Public Service.

3. Emanating from the above, the Minister for the Public Service and Administration approved the publication of the draft National Implementation Framework towards the Professionalisation of the Public Service for public comments. The Framework recommends among other provisions, that the public service be merit-based and insulated from party politics. Five critical professionalisation pillars are proposed, namely;

a) Pre-entry recruitment and selection within the public service

b) Induction and onboarding

c) Planning and performance management

d) Continuous learning and professional development

e) Career progression and management of career incidence

4. A number of stakeholders, including government departments, professional bodies, civil society organisations etc were invited to participate and make written submissions during the consultation process.

Reply:

The conduct of members of municipal councils is guided by the Code of Conduct for Councillors as provided in schedule 7 of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act No. 117 of 1998 (as amended). If a Councillor has breached the Code, item 16(2) of the Code provides that the municipal council may impose sanctions on the Councillor, including requesting the MEC to remove the Councillor from office.

It is the responsibility of the municipality to act against officials and political office bearers who have failed to address unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure as required in terms of section 32 of the MFMA. Section 32 of the MFMA enables the municipal council to resolve on the recoverability or write off of unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

Where the municipal council fails to address the unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, then section 173 of the MFMA read together with Chapter 3 of the Municipal Regulations for Financial Misconduct Procedures and Criminal Proceedings and the Code of Conduct for Councillors, sets out the processes that must be followed including when a councillor fails to or does something that impedes compliance with the MFMA etc. Therefore, under the MFMA, the Minister has not been granted the power to act specifically against political office bearers.

The MFMA provides in section 38, for the National Treasury to stop funds for serious or persistent breach of the measures in line with section 216 of the Constitution or breaches or fails to comply with any conditions subject to which the allocation is made.

If a Councilor fails to adhere to the legislative prescripts and the Minister becomes aware of any maladministration, fraud, corruption, or any other serious malpractice which, in the opinion of the Minister, has occurred or is occurring in a municipality, the Minister will request the MEC, in terms of section 106(4) of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act No. 32 of 2000 to investigate the matter. Council may then be requested to institute appropriate disciplinary proceedings where required, and where instances of corruption, fraud and related offences have been identified, such reports are handed over to law enforcement agencies for further processing.

Further, it is important to indicate that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) referrals to municipalities are not done through the Minister, but through the MEC. If the MEC does not take the necessary action, then the SIU will escalate the matter to the Premier in the Province.

Reply:

1. It is assumed that the Honorable Member is referring to headmen/women as defined in national legislation. According to information received from provinces, there is currently a total of 6 677 headmen/women in the country.

2. All duly recognised headmen/women are paid by the government. It should however be noted that there is a backlog in the payment of headmen/women in Kwa-Zulu Natal. The province is making arrangements to address the matter.

a) The salaries are determined by the Independent Commission on the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers.

b) A job description was developed and approved by the Independent Commission on the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers. This followed a job grading that informed the level at which headmen/women should be paid.

Reply:

a) In September 2021, I promulgated Local Government: Municipal Staff Regulations, which contributes towards the professionalisation of local public administration as envisaged in the National Development Plan (NDP) inter alia include a set of uniform norms and standards and procedures for municipal staff establishments, recruitment, selection and appointments, performance management, skills development and other career incidents of municipal employees below management echelon. In addition, the Staff Regulations are linked with competency frameworks for all occupational streams to ensure standardisation in the sector and this should be viewed as a game changer. Municipal Cost Containment Regulations promulgated in 2019, advocates for development of consultancy reduction plans to reduce reliance on consultants and ensure transfer of skills by consultants to municipal officials. Implementation of these regulations will assist municipalities to build their capacity and minimise reliance on consultants.

b) In respect of value for money it is a mixed bag, some municipalities managed to improve their performance/ audit outcomes, some municipalities recorded little improvement while others their audit outcomes remained unchanged and/ or regressed. The use of consultants for financial reporting is not sustainable, and it comes at a cost, hence municipalities are encouraged to channel resources towards improvement on internal controls and capacity building.

c) National Treasury support municipalities on the implementation of Municipal Standard Charts of Account (mSCOA) and this question can be directed to Ministry of Finance who would help with the number of municipalities that are adequately implementing mSCOA.

d) The root causes include poor management of consultants, lack of review of work done by consultants, reluctancy by municipal officials to be actively involved in the process, late appointment of consultants, and lack of appropriate evidence to support schedule/ figures disclosed in the financial statements and vacancies.

Reply:

a) The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) has taken various actions aimed at improving service delivery and eradicating infrastructure backlogs that include the following:

(i) DCOG together with the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA), all provincial departments responsible for local government and provincial treasury departments, under the leadership of the Minister of COGTA, prepared the State of Local Government (SOLG) report that was tabled and considered by Cabinet in June 2021. Cabinet’s resolutions on the SOLG report included that COGTA and National Treasury should lead the process of the development of the Municipal Support and Intervention Plans (MSIPs) in collaboration with sector departments, SALGA, provinces and municipalities. MSIPs have since been prepared that aim, among other things, to address sewer spillages and eradication of infrastructure backlogs.

(ii) MISA continues to provide technical support by deploying professionally registered Engineers and Town and Regional Planners to low and medium capacity municipalities, in accordance with the District Development Model. Currently MISA has deployed over 150 technical personnel to support and build the capacity of municipalities in infrastructure development and service delivery. The technical support by the MISA technical personnel includes assisting municipalities to develop operation and maintenance plans of the sewage system and implementation thereof. MISA also builds municipalities’ technical capacity by placing built environment learners in various low and medium capacity municipalities as part of the apprenticeship programme, the experiential learnership programme and the young graduates’ programme. In the last financial year MISA enrolled a total of 252 learners and candidates of the three programmes in various municipalities. Furthermore MISA, trains municipal officials in technical refresher courses. MISA trained 519 municipal officials in the last financial year in technical courses.

DCOG is administering the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) whose purpose is to provide specific capital finance for eradicating basic municipal infrastructure backlogs for poor households, microenterprises and social institutions servicing poor communities. The infrastructure includes for sanitation services. MISA supports municipalities with the implementation of projects throughout the project life cycle. Some of the specific activities of support are as follows:

• Review of projects business plans and technical reports for registration processes,
• General project management and project implementation planning
• Verification of work done on infrastructure projects
• Invoice verification on the MIG funded projects prior payment to ensure value for money is created on the ground.

(iii) All 44 District Municipalities and all 8 Metropolitan municipalities have established and operates disaster management centres in its municipal areas. These disaster management centres in partnership with the respective national, provincial municipal organs of state develop disaster management plans setting out the way in which the concept and principles of disaster management are to be applied in its functional area. These plans form part of and is implemented through the Integrated Development Plan and the Service Delivery Budget Implementation Plan.

Furthermore, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) provides support through Disaster Grant funding allocations to augment the resources of the municipalities affected by disaster in case their resources have been depleted and municipalities are unable to cope only utilising own funding. During financial year 2021/2022, grant funding allocations were made to municipalities affected by disasters for drought and flood intervention measures, particularly infrastructure projects.

(iv) The NDMC has developed the White Paper on Fire Services which provides a framework for understanding the philosophy and approach in the delivery of fire services in the country going forward and these build on the good practice found in today’s fire service across the country and globally. In the past financial year 2021/2022, the NDMC has conducted Ten (10) Fire Safety and prevention capacity assessment across the country and reports were submitted to relevant accounting officers for immediate attention and implementation. In addition, the NDMC has also supported municipalities via different provinces with Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) training. Thus, capacity building projects were provided to North West, KZN, Gauteng and Western Cape and will proceed to other provinces.

b) MISA continues to support low and medium capacity municipalities by deploying technical personnel in accordance with the District Development Model (DDM).

In the 2021/22 financial year, MISA prioritized interventions through the mainstreaming of groundwater projects by rehabilitating and drilling of boreholes, spring refurbishment and protection, providing storage and reticulation across the country through its own budget and in some instances in collaboration with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). The groundwater mainstreaming interventions in 2021/22 financial year resulted in a total of 78 boreholes drilled and springs protected as follows:

• 39 boreholes were completed
• 3 springs were protected and completed
• 32 borehole projects from last financial year are continuing in the 2022/23 financial year, and
• 4 springs protection projects are continuing in the 2022/23 financial year.

The monitoring of water quality is done by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). MISA supports municipalities to ensure to compliance with legislation and meeting service standards.

Reply:

The Department engages with provinces and municipalities through correspondences and meetings to ensure that they submit such copies of investigation reports conducted in line with Section 106 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act, 2000. The Department continues to collaborate with law enforcement agencies and provinces through the recently established Local Government Anti-Corruption Forum (LGACF) to ensure the implementation of recommendations emanating from such investigation reports.  Amongst others, the formation of the LGACF is vital for the purpose of fostering collaboration amongst the stakeholders at the local government level in order to effectively prevent corruption and coordinate efforts amongst all the key stakeholders including law enforcement agencies.

Further, if the Honourable Member is aware of such a report/s which have not been shared with the Department or law enforcement agencies, the Honourable Member is requested to provide more details so that officials from the Department can follow up on the matter.  

Reply:

1. (a) In terms of Section 73 (1A) (a) of the Local Government Municipal Structures Amendment Act, if a metropolitan or local council is unable to establish a ward committee or ward committees in accordance with subsection (1), the speaker must, prior to the expiry of the 120 days after the elections, in writing and on good cause shown, request the MEC, responsible for local government in the province concerned, for an extension. Municipalities that could not meet the deadline have been guided to request extensions from their respective MECs to ensure compliance. The following municipalities did not meet the deadline:

PROVINCE	DISTRICT	MUNICIPALITY	NUMBER OF WARDS
EASTERN CAPE	Nelson Mandela Bay	60
	Chris Hani	Sakhisizwe LM	9
	Alfred Nzo	Umzimbuvu LM	27
		Sundays River Valley LM	8
	Sara Baartman	Kou - Kamma LM	6
		Kouga LM	15
		Ndlambe LM	10
		Makana LM	14
		Dr Beyer's Naude LM	14
		Blue Crane LM	6
FREE STATE	Mangaung Metro	51
	Lejweleputswa	Tokologo LM	7
	Thabo Mofutsanyana	Mantsopa LM	9
		Maluti A Phofung LM	35
		Setsoto LM	17
	Xhariep	Kopanong LM	9
		Mohokare LM	7
GAUTENG	City of Johannesburg	135
	City of Tshwane	107
	West Rand District	Merafong LM	28
KWAZULU-NATAL	Umzinyathi	Umvoti LM	14
MPUMALANGA	Gert Sibande	Lekwa LM	15
NORTHERN CAPE	Frances Baard	Dikgatlong LM	8
		Phokwane LM	10
	ZF Mgcawu	Kai Garib LM	10
		Tsantsabane LM	7
	Pixley ka Seme	Thembelihle LM	6
		Kareeberg LM	6
		Renosterberg LM	5
		Siyathemba LM	6
NORTH WEST	Dr Kenneth Kaunda	Maquassi Hills LM	11
	Bojanala	Moretele LM	26
		Moses Kotane LM	34
WESTERN CAPE	Cape Winelands	Witzenberg LM	12
	Eden	Oudtshoorn LM	13
TOTAL	13	35	743

(b) The reasons for non-compliance or not being able to meet the 120 days deadlines by certain municipalities were due to the late constitution of some municipal councils, especially in hung municipalities, non-adopted public participation and ward committee establishment policies, disputes lodged by communities as well as human resource changes experienced in the Offices of the Speaker.

(2) Yes, some municipalities failed to comply requested extensions and were granted such by their respective MECs. These municipalities are proceeding with the establishment of ward committees.

Reply:

This is a legal matter between the council and the councilor concerned, hence as a department we will await the council to report any actions taken by the council and the MEC responsible for local government in the province. We will forward the report to the honourable member as soon as it is received.

The Department, through the Municipal Structures Act, established Code of Conduct  for councilors to deal with matters such as this.

Reply:

The response below was provided by the Mpumalanga province:

 (1) (a) The report was tabled before the municipal Council on 10 February 2022.

(b) The municipal Council discussed the report and developed an action plan on how they will implement the recommendations.  

(2) The matter of the salary increases and other matters were some of the reasons why the provincial department instituted an investigations in terms of section 106 (1)(b) of the Municipal Systems Act 2000 at the municipality. The report has indicated that there were clear breaches of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 and regulations on the appointment and conditions of employment of Senior Managers. The recommendations have been made that all monies paid unlawfully as a result of the illegal salary increases must be paid back to the municipality and that disciplinary action must be taken against all those implicated.

 (3) As indicated above, the investigation conducted has revealed that there were clear breaches of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 and regulations on the appointment and conditions of employment of Senior Managers.  The recommendations have been made that all monies paid unlawfully as a result of the illegal salary increases must be paid back to the municipality and that  disciplinary action must be taken against all those implicated. The monies will be recovered and the municipality has started the process of recovering such monies.

 (4) The recommendations of the investigation report are clear on what actions need to be taken on each of the findings in the report. Some matters will be dealt with by the municipality, whilst those with criminality will be handed over to law enforcement agencies for further action. The matter of the former CFO and the company implicated is one of those which will be investigated further by the law enforcement agencies.

(5) Workshops have been conducted in all provinces targeting relevant officials in municipalities on the regulations on the appointment and conditions of employment of Senior Managers. The Local Government Anti-Corruption Forum will also assist in terms of strengthening oversight on corruption related matters. Working with MECs for COGTA in the provinces we will ensure that there is compliance to the regulations.

Reply:

(1) According to information received from the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), SALGA has no corresponce or record implicating its representatives on the Board of Trustees of the Municipal Councillor Pension Fund (the MCPF) in misconduct and consequently has not instituted any disciplinary proceedings or taken other steps against its representatives on the board of the MCPF.

(2) Not applicable.

All further queries regarding pension fund must be referred to Minister of Finance.

BACKGROUND:

1. On 25 March 2022 the Department received Parliamentary Question 1084 from Mr IM Groenewald (FF Plus) asking the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (1) whether, in light of the fact that on 19 December 2017, the Gauteng North High Court placed the Municipal Councillors Pension Fund (MCPF) under curatorship as a result of irregular financial conduct by the MCPF board, the SA Local Government Association (SALGA) took any disciplinary and/or other steps against its representatives who represented SALGA on the board of the MCPF; if not, why not, if so, what are the relevant details, and (2) whether she will make a statement on the matter?

2. The Pretoria High Court granted an application brought by the Registrar of Pension Funds on 19 December 2017 in terms of section 5(1) of the Financial Institutions Act, 2001 (Protection of Funds), for the appointment of curators to the Municipal Councillors Pension Fund (the MCPF). The court appointed Mr Juanito Martin Damons and Ms Sophie Thabang Kekana as the joint curators of the MCPF.

3. The application was brought pursuant to an inspection report as well as reports by the section 26(2) board to the Registrar, which revealed several serious irregularities pertaining to poor investment decisions and lack of governance in the fund. The curatorship is intended to stabilise the management and operations of the fund and to protect the interests of its members.

4. The Board of Trustees of the MCPF (the BoT) and the curators are accountable to the Registrar of the Pension Funds acting with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance.

5. According to information received from the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), SALGA has no correspondence or record implicating its two (2) representatives on the BoT of the Municipal Councillor Pension Fund in misconduct and consequently has not instituted any disciplinary proceedings or taken other steps against its representatives on the board of the MCPF. In light of this developments, the question whether the Minister will make a statement on the matter is not applicable.

Reply:

The Amathole District Municipality has appointed an independent panel to investigate the matter and to submit the report to Council. I have requested the Municipality and MEC of COGTA to furnish me with the report, and I will update the response as soon as it is rceived.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Reply:

The below responses are based on information provided by the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB):

a) The Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) delimit wards in accordance with the criteria provided in schedule 1 of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act. The following guidelines and principles, emanating from the above-mentioned criteria, are applied by the MDB:

(i) Keep the total number of registered voters per ward, as close as possible to the norm (average number of registered voters per ward), within the minimum and maximum allowed; 

(ii) Avoid splitting obvious communities / groupings of villages / suburbs, traditional areas, etcetera, if at all possible;

(iii) Take physical characteristics into account, such as adequate road networks, and physical barriers such as a freeways, rivers, mountains, etcetera; 

(iv) Keep the existing number of wards and boundaries the same, if possible; 

(v) Use voting districts as building blocks and ensure that wards are contiguous; and

(vi) Avoid splitting voting districts, and cluster voting districts together to make up wards.

b) Ward 28 was delimited with the assistance of planning officials from the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality during the technical consultation session in September 2019. The draft ward comprised of the following voting districts:

 

NO.	VOTING DISTRICT	NO. OF REGISTERED VOTERS
1.	LD Moetanalo Secondary School	3,680
2.	Tent at Ward 28	10
3.	Olifant River Lodge	277
4.	Uitkyk Sports Ground (Tent)	443
TOTAL	4,410

 

The minimum, average and maximum norm allowed for the municipality, as follows:

 

NORM	NO. OF REGISTERED VOTERS
Minimum Norm	3,276
Average Norm	3,853
Maximum Norm	4,430

 

There were no objections lodged against ward 28 during the objection phase, and the MDB therafter resolved to confirm the ward and published its final determination in the Gazette.

Reply:

1. Infrastructure maintenance plans are developed per service. To that end municipalities are considered to have infrastructure maintenance plans if the municipality has in place the full spectrum of infrastructure maintenance plans for all services. This implies therefore that if a municipality has a roads maintenance plan but does not have a water and sanitation maintenance plan, it is not regarded as having a full spectrum of infrastructure maintenance plans in place. It will be regarded as partly having infrastructure maintenance plans in place.

a) Infrastructure maintenance plans in place:

Province	Water & Sanitation	Roads & Stormwater	Energy / Electricity	Full Spectrum
Eastern Cape	11	17	7	7
Free State	4		7	4
Gauteng	4	8	4	4
KwaZulu Natal	10	37	20	20
Limpopo	7	5	3	3
Mpumalanga	10	11	7	7
North West	6	4	2	2
Northern Cape	15	12	11	11
Western Cape	21	24	17	17

Table 1: Infrastructure maintenance plans in place per service

b) (i) Implemented infrastructure maintenance plans implemented fully:

Province	Water & Sanitation	Roads & Stormwater	Energy / Electricity	Full Spectrum
1. Eastern Cape	7	11	5	5
2. Free State	2	7	5	5
3. Gauteng	3	7	3	3
4. KwaZulu Natal	7	28	15	15
5. Limpopo	5	3	3	3
6. Mpumalanga	7	7	5	5
7. North West	3	3	2	2
8. Northern Cape	11	10	9	9
9. Western Cape	19	19	13	13

Table 2: Infrastructure maintenance plans per service implemented fully

(ii) Implemented infrastructure maintenance plans implemented partly:

Province	Water & Sanitation	Roads & Stormwater	Energy / Electricity	Full Spectrum
1. Eastern Cape	4	6	2	2
2. Free State	2	4	2	2
3. Gauteng	1	1	1	1
4. KwaZulu Natal	3	9	5	5
5. Limpopo	2	2	0	0
6. Mpumalanga	3	4	2	2
7. North West	3	1	0	0
8. Northern Cape	4	2	2	2
9. Western Cape	2	5	4	4

Table 3: Infrastructure maintenance plans per service implemented partly

Summary:

• 75 municipalities across the country have a full spectrum of infrastructure maintenance plans:
• A total of 60 municipalities are fully implementing the infrastructure maintenance plans:
• 18 municipalities are partially implementing their infrastructure maintenance plans.

The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) provides technical support to low and medium capacity municipalities by deploying professionally registered technical professionals, in accordance with the District Development Model (DDM), to develop, review and implement infrastructure maintenance plans as part of the support package. MISA further endeavours to build a local government skills pipeline by placing young technical qualifications graduates and built environment learners so that internal capacity is created with time for optimal delivery of basic services infrastructure. This support is provided in terms of section 154(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

Reply:

I have not been informed about the said assessment by the Msunduzi Business Forum (MBF).

According to Msunduzi Local Municipality (MLM), MLM is also not aware of any assessment or study that has been conducted by the MBF, but is aware of the following assessments done:

• The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) together with the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA), all provincial departments responsible for local government and provincial treasury departments, under the leadership of the Minister of COGTA, prepared the State of Local Government (SOLG) report that was tabled and considered by Cabinet in June 2021. Cabinet’s resolutions on the SOLG report included that COGTA and National Treasury should lead the process of the development of the Municipal Support and Intervention Plans (MSIPs) in collaboration with sector departments, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), provinces and municipalities. MSIPs, including that of MLM, have since been prepared.
• The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) Asset Management Care assessment that is currently underway.
• The KwaZulu Natal (KZN) COGTA assessment on electricity outages that was done in December 2021.

Government has adopted the District Development Model (DDM) to plan, implement and monitor developmental work in all 52 district spaces that cover the whole country. The DDM approach includes whole of government and all other interested and affected parties, including community forums.

To that end, the implementation of MSIPs will be done in accordance with the DDM approach.

Furthermore, DCOG, through MISA supports MLM through the deployment of technical professionals, in accordance with the District Development Model (DDM), to ensure that internal capacity is created with time for optimal delivery of basic services infrastructure. This is in terms of section 154(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

Reply:

When Cabinet resolved to put the province under administration, it invoke section 100(1)(a) to provincial CoGTA department. The Section 100 intervention succeded to stabilise the the province in general, however musch still needs to be done to support municipalities to perform and deliver on their mandate. Directives were issued by the CoGTA Minister directing the MEC to review the organisational structure of Provincial CoGTA to be fit for purpose to support municipalities, other directives that related to failure in municipal governance, financial management and service delivery were passed over to municipalities by the MEC.

My department’s assessment of municipalities in the North West revealed that they are facing serious governance, financial management and service delivery challenges. Cabinet then resolved that section 154 support packages in the form of Individual Municipal Support Plans have to be developed. Multi-disciplinary Task Teams were established to monitor implementation. This process have been led by both MEC Finance and MEC CoGTA.

Post Local Government Elections Tswaing, Mamusa, Ditsobotla, Maqquassi Hills and Moses Kotane are facing serious challenges that negatively impact on service delivery. 

The Premier has established Political and technical teams that is by MEC for CoGTA, MEC for Finance and MEC for Community Safety in particular for Ditsobotla,Mamusa, Maqquassi Hills and Moses Kotane to deal with some criminal elemenst interferring with municipal services. Currently we are providing support to both Political and Technical structures that’s are engaging the municipalities in order to develop intervention plans.

 

Reply:

1. The National State of Disaster was terminated on the 4th of April 2022. This followed a process of consultations which included a consultation where my department was asked to get input from with sector departments whether they still needed the regulations under the NSOD.

2. The COVID-19 pandemic was difficult for all countries and governments to handle because of its novel nature. We were forced to learn how to deal with it as we went along and as the virus was and is continues to mutate. Having said that, there is no doubt that measures that were taken by government were necessary under the given circumstances and given the knowledge at its disposal.

The declaration of the National State of Disaster on 15 March 2020 empowered government to take the measures that prevented many more people from becoming severely ill and saved countless lives.

These measures were effective in slowing down the rate of infection, easing pressure on our hospitals, and providing the time we needed to develop the infrastructure, resources, and capacity to manage many people who became ill because of COVID-19.

All these measures were necessary not only to respond to the devastating effects of the pandemic on human health, but also to limit the great cost to society and the economy.

Reply:

The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG), through the Municipal Infrastructure Support agent (MISA) is already supporting Msunduzi Local Municipality (MLM) through the deployment of professionally registered technical professionals, a Civil Engineering young graduate, as well as a Town Planning young graduate in accordance with the District Development Model (DDM), to ensure that internal capacity is created with time for optimal delivery of basic services infrastructure.

The MLM is also a beneficiary of two Presidential Economic Stimulus (PES) programmes that MISA is implementing viz the Labour-Intensive Construction (LIC) and the Innovative Solid Waste Management (ISWM). The LIC programme aims to instutionalise LIC methodology and training of municipal officials in an effort maximise creation of work opportunities during project implementation as well as operation and maintenance. The involvement of the local community in infrastructure development contributes, among other things, towards asset ownership, less vandalism and improvement in service reliability. The ISWM programme includes the following activities:

• • Waste Collection & transportation by appointed Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs):
  • Clearing and cleaning of illegal dumping sites:
  • Recycling and separation of waste at source:
  • Ward specific clean up campaigns:
  • 1000 participants working under the ISWM programme.

The above support to MLM is in terms of section 154 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 which provides that “the national government and provincial governments, by legislative and other measures, must support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities to manage their own affairs, to exercise their powers and to perform their functions.”

According to MLM, there is further support provided by government and public institutions. The KwaZulu Natal (KZN) COGTA support includes the deployment of several technical experts for infrastructure delivery, financial management, disaster management and for the revision of the Local Economic Development (LED) Plan. Eskom entered into a partnership agreement with MLM whereby Eskom committed to provide project management and training support to MLM. Umngeni Water also entered into an agreement with MLM regarding the Darvill sewer outfall pipe that requires urgent major repairs. The planning of the works is at an advanced stage.

Government has also taken other steps to support local government including MLM. DCOG together with MISA, all provincial departments responsible for local government and provincial treasury departments, under the leadership of the Minister of COGTA, prepared the State of Local Government (SOLG) report that was tabled and considered by Cabinet in June 2021. Cabinet’s resolutions on the SOLG report included that COGTA and National Treasury should lead the process of the development of the Municipal Support and Intervention Plans (MSIPs) in collaboration with sector departments, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), provinces and municipalities. MSIPs, including that of MLM, have since been prepared.

The implementation of MSIPs will be done in accordance with the DDM approach. The DDM approach includes the whole of government and all other interested and affected parties to plan, implement and monitor developmental work in all 52 district spaces that cover the whole country.

MLM is allocated infrastructure grant funding annually by national government that includes the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) and the Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG) to fund the implementation of basic services.

Reply:

1. (a) The number of municipal entities is 64.

(b) Municipal entities do not report to the Minister; however, the entities account to their respective parent Municipalities.

2. (a) and (b). The details of municipal entities are included in Annexure A, which contain list, names, audited and audit opinions of the municipal entities.

3. All entities fulfilled their reporting objectives except those that are dormant and Maluti a Phufong Development agency as per Annexure A referred above.

Reply:

The Department of Corporative Governance (DCOG) together with MISA, all provincial departments responsible for local government and provincial treasury departments, under the leadership of the Minister of Corporative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), prepared the State of Local Government report 2021.

The reasons for the Mangaung Metro Municipality (MMM) was found to be dysfunctional with challenges in all pillars namely political, governance, administrative, financial & service delivery. All these challenges contribute to the MMM not able to sufficiently deliver basic services such as waste removal and fixing of leaking sewerage pipes.

It is for that reason that Mangaung Metro has since been placed under section 139(5)(a) and (c) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa; read together with Section 150 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (MFMA) to deal with challenges identified above.

 

 

Reply:

The District Development Model has been rolled out in all the district and metro spaces as a way of institutionalising Intergovernmental relations. The roll out in these districts is centred on the development of the One Plans for all district and metro spaces. The One Plans identifies key diagnostic issues as well as the vision, key strategies and implementation commitments to be implemented by all spheres of government in each district and metro space. The One Plans specifically focuses on Governance and Financial Management which is critical in ensuring municipal institutional stabilisation and red tape reduction to attract and retain investment. There is also the focus on integrated service provisioning which is meant to contribute to ensuring the provision of dependable services to households and business in each district and metro space.

To date, 42 One Plans have been finalised and submitted to DCOG. The Department is in the process managing the One Plan quality assurance process which will entail the assessing the One Plans and determining if they were developed in line with the guidelines provided. This process will ensure that feedback is provided to all three spheres of government on the gaps identified and recommendations on the improvements of the One Plans.

Furthermore, the deployment of National Ministers and Deputy Ministers by the President as DDM Political Champions remains an important element in providing oversight of the implementation of the DDM at district and metro level. The political Champions have played a critical role in unlocking bottlenecks in the implementation of critical projects across various districts and ensure improved service delivery.

Through the DDM approach, DCOG working with other departments have facilitated the process to develop Municipal Support and Interventions Plans for the 64 municipalities identified as dysfunctional.

Reply:

The President raised the matter of DDM in the context of that all provincial government departments were able to collectively work together in addressing service delivery issues in Mamusa Local Municipality in January 2020.

Mamusa Local Municipality was stabilised after it's dissolution as all senior manager posts were filled which were vacant for a number of years also there was significant improvement in revenue collection and the municipality was able to pay its long outstanding obligations.

However, in the advent of new council that came in after local government elections these gains were reversed as currently the Political in fighting by councilors and that affects service delivery. The Premier has established a team of MECs who are on the ground in a bid to resolve the challenges.

Reply:

The municipality was previously placed under intervention in terms of sec 139(1)(b) and (5) of the Constitution between March 2019 to November 2019. An administrator was appointed in line with subsection 5(c) of the Constitution from the beginning of March 2019.

Forensic investigations were instituted by the Eastern Cape Provincial CoGTA in accordance with section 106 of the Municipal Systems Act to probe allegations of procurement processes and irregularities.

In January 2020, the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape wrote a letter to the National Department requesting financial bailout on 16 financially distressed municipalities including Amahlathi Local Municipality. A joint technical team comprising of CoGTA. Provincial CoGTA, National and Provincial Treasury and SALGA was convened to develop a diagnostic report on the challenges in identified municipalities ranging from governance, institutional capacity, service delivery and financial management, wherafter recommendations were made to this effect.

The financial paralyses in Amahlathi Municipality comprise of various factors, including structural and systematic issues, institutional stabilization, administrative and governance matters. The wage bill of the municipality is significantly higher than the norm of 40% and unprocedural processes on the standardization of salaries has increased the wage bill.

Amahlathi Municipality is amongst the 64 municipalities identified in the recent State of Local Government Report as being dysfunctional.  The Department is working jointly with the National Treasury, SALGA and their provincial counterparts, and municipalities to finalize the Municipal Support and Intervention Plans.

The Department has promulgated the Municipal Staff Regulations in September 2021, setting out amongst others uniform norms and standards for municipal staff systems and procedures, including organisation design principles, financial ratios, organisation design norms and metrics. The implementation of these Regulations will provide needed stability and curtail the bloating of municipalities.

In addition, the implementation of the Regulations comes with the prototype staff establishments. The Department is on the verge of rolling out the prototype staff establishments in selected municipalities, including Amahlathi Municipality, which is aimed at guiding municipalities to organise their administration in such a manner that they are fit for purpose and responsive to the needs of communities.

Reply:

The Department in partnership with The Ethics Institute (TEI), South African Local Government Association (SALGA), and the Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM) are implementing a project on ethical leadership in municipalities. This is in line with one of the focus areas of the Local Government Anti-Corruption Strategy which calls for a national dialogue on ethical leadership in local government. The aim of the project is to develop a Code for Ethical Governance for municipalities which will have a similar standing as the King Code on Corporate Governance (King IV) has in the private sector. The focus of the Code will be on the principles, values and spirit of ethical leadership in local government.

Reply:

The information received from the North-West Province:

1. There are no two (2) reservoirs that were built in 2019 and the only existing reservoir is the 3,5 ML/day reservoir that was built in 2009 and on its own does not have sufficient capacity to cater for the demand, it feeds from Valkop Water treatment works.

2. As per the above, it is the 2009 built 3,5 ML/Day that requires refurbishment or upgrade to cater for its demand.

Reply:

a) The National State of Disaster is envisaged to end by the 5th April 2022.

b) The national state of disaster was extended each time following the determination by the National Coronavirus Command Council and Cabinet that the need to augment the existing legislation and contingency arrangements through the disaster management regulations was still required.

Reply:

a) To circumvent this and similar situations, a number of plans aimed at strengthening administrative systems, governance and improving accountability in local government were unveiled including the enactment of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Act, 2011, (Act No 7 of 2011) [herein referred to as the “2011 Amendment Act”]. The 2011 Amendment Act comes as a policy response to institutional and administrative challenges of municipalities. It outlined government’s resolve to professionalise local public administration to ensure fair, efficient, effective and transparent municipal administration. It also empowered the Minister and MEC responsible for local government to take apprioptiate steps as may be necessary to enforce compliance with the appointment requirements, where an appointment has been made in contravention with these requirements, including an application for a declaratory order to the court. As the Honourable Member maybe aware, the Constitutional Court declared the 2011 Amendment Act unconstitutional and invalid in its entirety in March 2019, as the Bill preceding the 2011 Amendment Act was incorrectly tagged by Parliament 2011 which has negatively impacted government’s resolve to professionalise the sector. The Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendemnt Act [herein referred to as the “Amendment Bill”] was re-introduced to Parliament in February 2019 with the same provisions as enacted in 2011. Parliament is hard at work to finalise the Amendment Bill. In the interim municipalities will continue to be monitored and supported to adhere to the legislation in respect of the appointment of senior managers, and to ensure that municipalities comply with key recruitment and selection statutory provisions.

b) Where a councillor(s) knowingly took an unlawful action or decision, which invariably results in instability in municipalities that councillor(s) will be held liable for any fruitless and wasteful expenditure that the municipality may incur as result of voting in favour of resolutions before the council or a committee of the council which conflicts with legislation applicable to local government. It introduces a liability clause in the Code of Conduct for Municipal Councillors contained Municipal Structures Act, 1998. 

Reply:

The Eastern Cape Executive Council intervened in the affairs of Amahlathi LM in March 2019 in terms of section 139(1)(b) and (5) of the Constitution due to  financial crisis and failure by the municipality to provide basic services. The intervention was revoked in November 2019, and an Administrator’s close-out report indicated both progress and outstanding challenges remaining. The recommendations from the Administrator’s report was for the remaining challenges, post the revocation, must be dealt with by the province in providing support to the municipality in terms of section 154 of the Constitution, amongst others these challenges included finalising the municipal turnaround plan, strengthening revenue collection, reviewing organogram, and continuation of deepening public participation. To some extent the intervention yielded some positive results, electricity losses were addressed and there was improved state of governance.

In addition, based on our departemnt’s own assessment of the State of Local Government, Amahlathi LM was identified as dysfunctional. In bringing stability in this municipality, the Department developed Municipal Support and Interventions Plan(MSIP) in collaboration with Department and National Treasury and other sector departments, focusing on four (4) key performance areas, namely: Governance, Administration/Institutional Capacity, financial management and Service Delivery/ Disaster Management.

Amahlati LM was identified by National Treasury as amongst those municipalities requiring Section 154 support by national and provincial government. To that end, national and provincial government are providing support to the municipality.

Reply:

1(a) and (b) Yes, the Minister established and maintained a record of staff members of municipalities dismissed for misconduct or staff that resigned prior to finalisation of the disciplinary proceedings against them in terms of the Municipal Systems Amendment Act, 2011 (Act No. 7 of 2011).

(i) The Municipal Systems Amendment Act, 2011 was invalidated by the Constitutional Court on 9 March 2019. In terms of the principle of constitutional legality, the authority of the Minister to maintain and disseminate the record has taken away. Therefore, the Minister cannot legally continue to exercise this authority.

(ii) As regards details of employment of staff, the information information is kept by municipalities in their capacity as employers. The Honouarable Member is advised to direct his question to municipalities.

2. The record is moot.

Reply:

1. This register became a dormant as a result of the invalidation of the Amendment Act on 9 March 2019, therefore sections 57A(1) and (3) are no longer applicable.

(a) Not applicable.

(b) Not applicable.