Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs

2014-03-03

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Reply received: December 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 3024

Mr B M Bhanga (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Whether, with regard to the implementation of the Use of Official Language Policy Act, Act 12 of 2012 and since the reply of the Minister of Arts and Culture to question 990 on 6 June 2013, his department implemented the Act; if not, when will the Act be implemented; if so, which languages have been adopted as official languages of his department?

REPLY:

The Department of Cooperative Governance has noted the Use of Official Language Policy Act, Act 12 of 2012, and its regulations. The introduction of the law requires a concerted approach from the Department in terms of the use of predetermined language. Accordingly, the Department has adopted Isiswati as a language of choice, which will be introduced in terms of the above-mentioned legislation.

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO.2935

Mr K.J. Mileham (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) Whether he can indicate the exact reasons why a certain person (name and details furnished) was (a) suspended and (b) fired;

(2) (a) what amount will be paid as an exit package to the specified person and (b) how was this amount (i) calculated and (ii) decided upon;

(3) Why does a certain report (name and details furnished) not provide clarification on this matter;

(4) Whether he has taken any steps to fill the vacancy left by the specified person with a permanent appointment; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW3579E

REPLY:

The Municipal Demarcation Board is an independent Board established by the Municipal Demarcation Act, Act 27 of 1998. The information below has been provided by the Chairperson of the Board, Ms Jane Thupana.

(1) The former Chief Executive Officer of the Municipal Demarcation Board, Ms Gabusile Gumbi-Masilela was suspended with full salary pending an investigation of over thirty charges by the previous Board on the 12 February 2014, shortly before its term ended on the 20 February 2014. Upon investigation of the charges by the current Board, disciplinary proceedings were held for two substantive charges, namely poor performance (gross incompetence) against her performance contract and appointment of three candidates against human resources policy of the Board and contrary to the Board's resolution.

(2) (a) The former Chief Executive Officer was paid a one year taxable salary of R1, 691, 622,00. The net salary paid was R1, 014 973, 00.

(b) The Board decided that a one year salary was the best option because she had three years remaining in her contract of employment. The reasons of the Board to arrive at its conclusions was that, firstly, the suspension was initiated by the previous Board, therefore evidence was to be led by the previous Chairperson who was not cooperating during the disciplinary proceedings, secondly the case had negative bearing on the performance of the Board and would lead to instability while the Board is embarking on preparing for the 2016 Local Government elections, lastly the Board would be disadvantaged should an agreement not be reached speedily. This implied that the Board would continue paying her a monthly salary and also legal costs should the matter proceed to the Labour Court while MDB will continue operating without the Chief Executive Officer.

(3) All matters relevant to the suspension of the former Chief Executive Officer were disclosed in note 27 and 28 of Cogta 2013/14 Annual Report.

This includes irregular appointments as well as the fruitless expenditure that was incurred when civil litigation was abandoned and an out of court settlement to the value of R722 197.00 reached with the three parties appointed by the former Chief Executive Officer.

(4) In terms of Section 32 of the Municipal Demarcation Act, Act 27 of 1998, the Board must appoint a person as the Manager of the Board who holds office for an agreed term not exceeding 5 years, but which is renewable and subject to the terms and conditions applicable to employees. Section 33 provides that the Manager is the Chief Executive Officer and Accounting Officer of the Board. The process to fill any vacancies at the Municipal Denmarcation Board reside with the Board. The Board has initiated the recruitment process to fill the vacancy of the Chief Executive Officer.

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2881

Mr B M Bhanga (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Whether his department uses any monitoring mechanisms or tools to monitor performance and service delivery in local municipalities; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW3524E

REPLY

The department continues to monitor the performance of municipalities on the key performance areas as prescribed in Chapter 6 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act (32 of 2000). CoGTA monitors performance of municipalities with regards to the targets set in the Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) as well as the municipal Performance Management System.

The monitoring capability of the department has been further enhanced by the introduction of the Back to Basics approach to local government performance. The Back to Basics (B2B) approach is designed to ensure that all municipalities perform their basic responsibilities and functions without compromise. The programme is built on five (5) pillars:

· Put people and their concerns first;

· Demonstrate good governance and administration;

· Deliver municipal services;

· Sound financial management and accounting; and

· Sound institutional and administrative capabilities.

The Back to Basics approach seeks to institutionalize a performance management system that recognizes and rewards good performance, and ensures consequences and appropriate support in cases of under-performance.

As part of institutionalizing the Back to Basics approach, the department has embarked on a process of developing a Back to Basics Information System (B2BIS), an electronic monitoring system which, among others, collates information on Legislative Compliance by municipalities and will progressively provide additional data sets and host B2B specific reporting that will be used for regular reporting to the public.

Central to the B2BIS is a Dashboard function that allows for rapid assessment of individual municipalities as well as a diagnostic report of overall performance across different categories. On the basis of the performance measures, municipalities are classified in order to provide the basis for the level and type of support or intervention to be implemented. The monthly reports produced through this system are presented to leadership at national, provincial and local government levels for decision making and intervention.

Reply received: December 2014

QUESTION 2872

PQ 2014/2872 Mr B M Bhanga (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Whether, with reference to his reply to question 1276 on 22 September 2014, he has completed his investigation into the matter; if not, (a) why not and (b) when does he expect the investigation to be completed; if so, what are the relevant details? NW3515E

REPLY

Yes, the investigation has been done jointly by CoGTA and the Eastern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. Interviews were conducted with the complainants, the Graaf Reinet Ratepayers Association and the acting Mayor of Camdeboo Local Municipality. The Graaf Reinet Ratepayers Association indicated that their complaint was based on alleged pending investigations against the Municipal Manager by his previous employer Oudtshoorn Municipality.

Furthermore, the Ratepayers Association indicated that three of the five charges against the Municipal Manager have been struck off the roll by the court because of lack of evidence. It also seems that the same thing will happen to the remaining two cases that are still pending in court.

The Ratepayers Association appreciates the improvements undertaken by the current Municipal Manager in the municipality. However, there are still some service delivery challenges in some wards that remain unresolved regardless of reports from affected wards. This information was also confirmed on a separate engagement session with the acting Mayor.

Reply received: December 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO. 2825

Mr W M Madisha (Cope) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Whether he intends to provide quarterly reports to the National Assembly on the progress being made in respect of addressing the six key risk areas identified by the Auditor General on page 29 of the 2012-13 MFMA Consolidated General Report considering that it is a constitutional responsibility of the national government to monitor compliance with the legislation that governs local government; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW3466E

REPLY

Yes; the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA). provides reports to the National Assembly through the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance. In addition to these reports and in fulfilling Section 134 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, the Minister of CoGTA reports annually to Parliament as part of the Municipal Systems Act Section 48 report on the actions taken by MEC's for Local Government to address issues raised by the Auditor General.

In responding to the weaknesses raised by the Auditor General regarding the leadership involvement and oversight at all levels in the response to the municipal audit outcomes; the following governance arrangements have been instituted:

The Department of Cooperative Governance, National Treasury and their provincial counterparts support municipalities to develop action plans in response to audit outcomes. After the action plans have been reviewed for adequacy in addressing the issues raised by the Auditor General; they are implemented by municipalities and that implementation is actively monitored by provinces.

A specific focus is placed on the actions to respond to the six key risk areas as identified by the Auditor General.

The Department of Co-operative Governance monitors the implementation of the audit outcomes response plans through inter-governmental structures in each province consisting of representatives from the Provincial departments of Local Government, Auditor General, South African Local Government Agency, National Treasury and Provincial Treasuries and Offices of Premiers. These structures convene at least quarterly to track progress.

Provincial oversight and reporting (Leadership)

Each province develops a progress report which is presented quarterly to the MuniMEC as well as the Premiers Coordinating Forum /Committee.

A consolidated progress report of all the provinces is provided to the CoGTA MinMEC on a quarterly basis.

National oversight and reporting

CoGTA reports periodically to the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance, the last report to the Portfolio Committee was presented on the 2nd September 2014.

Reply received: December 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO. 2824

Mr W M Madisha (Cope) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Whether he had taken note of the findings of the Auditor-General regarding a lack of consequences for irregular expenditure considering that 34% of auditees did not even investigate whether the irregularities constituted fraud or wastage; if not, why not; if so, what does he intend to do to ensure that there would indeed be consequences for those incurring irregular expenditure?

REPLY

Yes, the Minister of CoGTA has taken note of the findings of the Auditor-General regarding a lack of consequences for irregular expenditure incurred by some municipalities.

With regards to the consequences for noncompliance the following is applicable:

Where political leaders and senior officials are found to have ignored their mandates or disregarded legislation, the Code of Conduct for Political Leaders and the procedures provided for in the Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act No 32 of 2000) , as amended, will be invoked, respectively. Members of the Executive Council (MECs) have been sensitized on the matter and were urged to take the necessary steps to apply the said provisions, as and when required.

The Supply Chain Management environment is regulated through the promulgation of the Municipal Supply Chain Management Regulations (MSCMR) by National Treasury. These regulations provide the legal framework for municipal supply chain management. These regulations prescribe the processes which municipalities must follow when they wish to appoint service providers to deliver services to the municipality.

These regulations form part of the Municipal Finance Act (MFMA), which effectively means that failure to adhere to them constitutes financial misconduct. National Treasury has recently strengthened the legal framework to address processes in instances of allegations of financial misconduct. This will facilitate enforcement and enhance compliance with the MFMA.

The specific action to be taken will depend on the different circumstances prevailing in municipalities. It should be noted that action has to be taken by respective councils in line with the municipality's internal disciplinary measure and procedures.

On an ongoing basis, the department is actively taking necessary actions to mitigate the occurrence of Supply Chain Management transgressions which lead to irregular expenditure. Supply Chain Management in municipalities is being addressed through a joint initiative that involves all role-players, i.e. DCoG, National Treasury (Office of the Chief Procurement Officer), Provincial Treasuries, the Auditor General, Provincial CoGTAs and municipalities. These departments / role-players have developed and are implementing a response plan in respect of the 2012/13 AG Audit report on municipal audit outcomes. The response plan will be amended on the release of the 2013/14 audit outcomes to respond to any recurrent challenges.

Measures to improve Supply Chain Management constitute the majority of the actions to improve compliance with legislation in the audit remedial plan. These actions are intended to reduce noncompliance and the consequent irregular expenditure. In this regard, municipalities are being further capacitated in implementing adequate supply chain management processes and procedures as well as in proactively dealing with and reporting on irregular expenditure.

The governance arrangements around these types of expenditure are being strengthened and the office of the Chief Procurement Officer in the National Treasury will play a significant role in reducing Supply Chain Management deficiencies.

The actions in the response plan to audit outcomes are being addressed by the municipalities and monitored by provinces; the municipalities who have been categorized as dysfunctional during the assessment that preceded the Back to Basics initiative will receive targeted support by provinces.

Reply received: December 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO. 2821

Mr M G P Lekota (Cope) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Whether, with reference to the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), Act 56 of 2003, his department had fully dealt with the findings of the MFMA 2012-13 Consolidated General Report by the Auditor-General that (a) 74% of the auditees reflected weaknesses in the procurement processes and contract management, (b) 29% of the auditees could not provide evidence that their procurement processes had complied with legislation, (c) 83% of contracted suppliers did not declare that officials, councillors or state officials held a financial interest in them, as required in law, (d) 71% of auditees flouted legislation resulting in uncompetitive or unfair procurement processes occurring and (e) 33% of auditees did not have adequate contract management systems in place; if not, why not, in each case; if so, (i) how and (ii) when will all of these recurring shortcomings be decisively addressed in each case?

REPLY

The Department had noted the findings of the Municipal Finance Act (MFMA) 2012/13 Consolidated General Report by the Auditor General with regard to (a) weaknesses in the procurement processes and contract management (b) proof of compliance with legislation (c) declaration of financial interest (d) flouting of legislation resulting in uncompetitive or unfair procurement processes and (e) inadequate contract management systems in municipalities.

(i) and (ii) Yes, on an ongoing basis, the department is actively taking necessary actions to address supply chain management transgressions in municipalities through a joint inter-governmental initiative that involves role-players, i.e. DCoG, National Treasury (Office of the Chief Procurement Officer), Provincial Treasuries, the Auditor General, provincial CoGTAs and municipalities. These departments / role-players have developed and are implementing a response plan in respect of the 2012/13 Auditor General's Audit report on municipal audit outcomes. The response plan will be amended on the release of the 2013/14 audit outcomes to respond to the Auditor General's findings and recommendations.

Measures to improve supply chain management constitute the majority of the actions to improve compliance with legislation in the remedial plan. These actions are intended to reduce noncompliance and the consequent irregular expenditure. In this regard, municipalities are being further capacitated in implementing adequate supply chain management processes and procedures as well as in proactively dealing with and reporting on irregular expenditure.

The governance arrangements around these types of expenditure are being strengthened and the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer in the National Treasury will play a significant role in reducing Supply Chain Management deficiencies.

The following are the focus areas of the national response plan to improve audit outcomes that is being implemented:

§ Actions to ensure that quality Annual Financial Statements (AFS) are submitted timeously.

§ Actions to ensure that key controls are in place and that corrective measures are implemented to address key control deficiencies.

§ Actions to improve the efficient use of service providers

§ Actions to ensure the development and implementation of audit remedial plans

§ Actions to improve leadership involvement in guiding and directing the implementation of audit outcomes response initiatives

§ Actions to create a platform for consequence management, politically and administratively.

§ Actions to improve performance reports

§ Actions to improve asset management, Records management, Supply Chain Management, Unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

§ Actions to improve Information Technology Controls,

§ Actions to ensure improved HR practises

§ Actions to improve the capacity of DCoG and Provinces to support municipalities.

§ Actions to ensure effective governance - Audit and Public Account Committees

The follow up to the implementation of the national audit outcomes response plan is monitored in the following manner:

Provincial co-ordinating structures

The department monitors the implementation of the audit outcomes response plan through inter-governmental structures in each province consisting of representatives from DCoG, Provincial departments of Local Government, Auditor General, SALGA, National Treasury and Provincial Treasuries. The CFO's of selected municipalities' present progress in the implementation of the audit remedial plans to these forums on a quarterly basis.

National and Provincial Oversight and reporting (Leadership)

Each province develops a progress report which is presented quarterly to the MuniMEC as well as the Premiers Coordinating Forum / Committee.

The outcomes of these actions are intended to improve audit outcomes which is represented by improved compliance with legislation and consequently a reduction in irregular expenditure. The 2013/14 audit is in its final stages, the outcome of the collective effort will be measured once the audit outcomes are released by the Auditor General.

Reply received: December 2014

QUESTION 2807

Mr A M Matlhoko (EFF) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

What strategies does his department have in place to turn local government into a developmental, self-reliant and self-sustainable sphere of government which is able to do business with other institutions in its endeavour to generate its own revenue, apart from collecting revenue in its normal way which is capitalistic in nature? NW3197E

REPLY

Our 2014/15 Budget Vote indicates the need for municipalities to look for innovative opportunities to increase economic activity and widen their revenue base. In addition to this, the Department has prioritised the positioning of local government to create an enabling environment for economic development, to stimulate competitive, inclusive and sustainable local economies. In this regard an important lever which can contribute effectively to revenue generation is a sound tax base and the ability of the municipality to effectively carry out its developmental mandate.

Several strategies are in place to ensure that we attain the vision as outlined in the 1998 White Paper on Local Government: The Back to Basics Approach to municipal service delivery is central in the fulfillment of local government's developmental mandate. We also believe that the foundation to building a robust and sustainable revenue base in local government starts with developing a capable local government system, through getting the basics right. As an approach, 'Back to Basics' focuses on getting the basics in municipal functions and services right through Putting People First; Adequate and Community Oriented Service Delivery; Good Governance; Sound Financial Management and Administration; and Build Institutional Capabilities.

It is also important to understand that the South African Constitution, supported by the Local Government White Paper, specifies that the role of municipalities is to provide an enabling environment for economic development. As such, the efforts of the Department around the Back to Basics Approach are to ensure that as part of providing an enabling environment for development, and therefore revenue enhancement, the basics are in place.

The Department has developed an Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF). The objective is to provide a framework that will assist municipalities and other role players to manage and respond to the pressures of urbanization. One of the key levers of the IUDF is inclusive economic development. This policy lever identifies priorities necessary to ensure that cities and towns foster entrepreneurialism and innovation in order to sustain livelihoods, enable economic growth and generate the tax base to sustain and expand public services and amenities.

Secondly, the revised National Local Economic Development (LED) Framework 2014-2019 emphasizes that local government is an important and central sphere of government in national economic implementation. Local government's responsibility is to create an enabling environment for economic development and build public and market confidence in our municipalities as places to live, work and invest.

Reply received: December 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO. 2014/2806

Mr E M Mthethwa (ANC) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(a) What programme does his department have in place to eradicate the shortage of skills in certain municipalities and (b) when will this programme be fully implemented? NW3165

Reply:

(a)

In September 2014, my department launched the Back-to-Basics Programme. Amongst its core pillars is the 'building of capable institutions and administrations'. In this instance, we will enhance our programme of support to municipalities by ensuring that all municipalities are closely monitored and supported to approve their organograms and timeously fill vacancies with competent people.

The following programmes are currently being rolled-out and will soon be aligned to address priorities of the Back to Basics Approach:

· Sustaining the Local Government Skills Audit through a GAPSKILL web based skills audit tool available to all municipalities at no cost and on which their Skills Development Facilitators receive free training. This complements the Work Skills Plans supported by the LGSETA.

· The National Capacity Building Framework, Strategy and Plans (for both elected and appointed officials) are being reviewed to address the short to medium term Back to Basics Approach objectives

· To date, focus has been in line with the long term approach as proposed by the National Development Plan, with a focus on:

o HR unit support to ensure more strategic approach is adopted to recruitment and retention and HRM and Development Strategies

o IDP Unit support focused on long term planning

o Middle Management Skills [Induction, Management, Administrative and Legal capabilities]

o Information Communication Technical (ICT) capacity

The Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) in partnership with relevant sector departments, focuses on enhancing technical professional capabilities together with professional bodies active in local government. MISA has a Young Professionals Development Programme aimed at improving the capacity of poorly performing municipalities and develop the local government sector.

The programme targets young graduates from historically disadvantaged universities and takes them through a three-phased structured work-based development program, teaching them technical, soft and cognitive skills. This provides them with a level of work experience and allows them to achieve certification/recognition by professional bodies. The focus of the programme is on the scarce skills required in municipalities such as Artisan development, Apprentice skills, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Town and Regional Planning, Water and Waste Water Controllers.

(b)

The MISA programme is fully operational and builds on project consolidate in providing targeted hands-on support to municipalities. A total of 56 municipalities are currently receiving support from MISA and can be provincially disaggregated as follows:

NORTH WEST	MPUMALANGA	FREE STATE	KWAZULU-NATAL
Madibeng LM	Dr JS Moroka LM	Setsoto LM	Big five 5 LM
Moses Kotane LM	Thembisile Hani	Phumelela LM	Msunduzi LM
Kgetleng Rivier LM	Lekwa LM	Matjabeng LM	Kwadukuza LM
Moretele LM	Thaba Chweu LM	Dihlabeng LM	Ugu DM
Tswaing LM	Goven Mbeki LM	Lesedi LM
Lekwateemane LM	Dipaleseng LM
Ratlou LM
Dr Ruth Mompati DM
Greater Taung LM
Matlosana LM
Ditsobotla LM
Naledi LM
Ngaka Modiri Molema DM
Ventersdorp LM
14	06	05	04

LIMPOPO	EASTERN CAPE	NORTHERN CAPE	WESTERN CAPE	GAUTENG
Vhembe DM	King Sabata Dalindyebo LM	Kai Garib LM	George LM	Midvaal LM
Ba-Phalaborwa LM	Senqu LM	Kamiesberg LM	Langeberg LM	Merafong LM
Elias Motswaledi LM	Kouga LM	Namakhoi LM	Kanaland LM	West Rand DM
Blouberg LM	Alfred Nzo DM	Khara Hais LM	Hessequa DM
Musina LM	Matatiele LM	Emthanjeni LM	Matzikama LM
Polokwane LM		Gasegonyana LM
Mutale LM
Thulamela LM
08	05	06	05	03

My department is currently conducting an in-depth municipal diagnostic exercise in order to develop individual municipal specific action plan to achieve administrative stability and enhance service delivery. In accordance with the Back-to-Basics approach, issues of basic operations and maintenance will be attended to through training of technicians in an effort to close the capacity gap of not having sufficient engineers while addressing the development of professional engineers and planners. The issue of scarce and technical skills will further be addressed through the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Service Delivery.

Through the capacity building strategy, skills development programmes are being implemented. Joint programming has been established with National Treasury in order to improve the financial health of municipalities and strengthening financial management capacity.

In order to enhance a structured implementation of capacity building initiatives, a Local Government Skills Development Institute (LGSDI) is being established in collaboration with DHET and the LGSETA. The objective of the LGSDI is being to provide a single, coordinated institutional home and mechanism for all local governmental capacity building which is aimed at leadership (traditional leaders and councillors), senior management and professional local government practitioners. This will ensure that local government capacity building initiatives undertaken are correctly focused, are more effective and efficient (in time and funding).

Reply received: December 2014

QUESTION 2804

Mr E M Mthethwa (ANC) asks the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) In view of the reports of the Statititian-General that most protests are not about service delivery, what programme does his department have to ensure that this is communicated to the public;

(2) Whether his department has any measures in place to enforce the law during protests, if not, why not; if so (a) what are these measures (b) what harsher action will be taken against public protests that turn out to be violent and result in damage to municipal infrstracture?

REPLY:

(1) The departments of cooperative governance and traditional affairs have established a back to basics national command centre which is a hub established for the assembly of information pertaining to municipalities and local government sector in the main. The command centre is intended to amass information from the public, municipalities and stakeholders in the fraternity. The net effect is that the information amassed is communicated to communities to enlighten them about development in their respective communities which is intended to reduce or defuse the frequency of service delivery protest.

(2) There is no qualification of legitimate or non-legitimate services delivery protests, the crux of the matter is that the Department through its back-to-basics programme seeks to make greater impetus and understanding by communities as it advocates through its five pillars: putting people first, sound financial management, good governance, public participation; and building capable institution and administration.

(3) The facet of law enforcement remains the competency of the Minister of Police thus the Ministry for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs would be involved in assembling or issuing instructions to the police.

Reply received: November 2014

QUESTION 2750

Mr M H Hoosen (DA) to ask the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) Did (a) his department and/or (b) any entities reporting to it owe money to any Gauteng municipalities at the end of the 2013-14 financial year; if so, in respect of each specified municipality (i) what is the name of the municipality, (ii) what was the total amount owed, (iii) what was the nature of the debt, (iv) for how long has the debt been outstanding and (v) what plans are in place to recover the debt owed to the municipality by (aa) his department and/or (bb) any entities reporting to it?NW3399E

REPLY:

Departments
(a) (aa)	(i)	(ii)	(iii)	(iv)	(v)
Departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.	City of Tshwane	R0.00	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable

Entities
(b) (bb)	(i)	(ii)	(iii)	(iv)	(v)
South African Local Government Association (SALGA)	City of Johannesburg	R19,846.45	Rates, Water, Electricity	Current account debt of March,30 days in arrears	The debt in arrears for March was fully settled in April.
SALGA (Head Office)	City of Tshwane	R0.00	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB)	Impact Metering provides services	R0.00	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
South African Cities Network (SACN)	City of Johannesburg	R0.00	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities	City of Johannesburg	R0.00	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable

Reply received: December 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2696

QUESTION: HONOURABLE Mr K. MILEHAM (DA)

Mr K J Mileham (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional

(1) Whether the Limpopo Member of the Executive Council for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (a) placed the Mogalakwena Municipality under administration in accordance with section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, (b) appointed an administrator for the specified municipality and (c) convened a council meeting on 6 November 2014; if so, why were the North Gauteng High Court orders of 17 June and 4 November 2014 ignored;

(2) Whether the appointed administrator of the specified municipality (a) declared councillor vacancies in the municipality, (b) convened any meetings of the specified council and (c) chaired any meeting at which a (i) speaker and/or (ii) mayor was elected; if so, (aa) under what authority and (bb) why were the North Gauteng High Court orders of 17 June and 4 November 2014 ignored;

(3) Whether a quorum existed at the meeting on 6 November 2014, given that nine councillors were precluded from acting as or assuming any of the functions of councillors in terms of the court order dated 4 November 2014?

REPLY: THE MINISTER

(1)(a) Yes, the MEC did place Mogalakwena Local Municipality under administration in accordance with section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution. This was after the Limpopo Provincial Executive had taken a resolution on 12 March 2014 to intervene in this municipality by invoking the provisions of section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution. However, this intervention was challenged in court by the Mogalakwena Residents Association and the municipality. There is now a standing court interdict against the intervention, which was granted in favour of the municipality by the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria, on 17 June 2014, pending the final determination of a review application.

(b) Yes, the MEC appointed an administrator for the municipality after the abovementioned resolution was taken.

(c) Yes, the MEC convened a council meeting on the 6th of November 2014. The court order of 17 June 2014 interdicted the MEC from intervening in terms of sec 139(1)(b), while the court order of 04 November 2014 required the respondents to restore undisturbed occupation of municipal premises. The orders did not bar the MEC from exercising her responsibilities in terms of section 36(3) of the Municipal Structures Act.

(2)(a) No, the appointed administrator did not declare councillor vacancies in the municipality.

(b) No, the administrator did not convene any meetings of the specified council; and

In light of the above, sub-questions 2(aa) and (bb) are not applicable.

(3) In respect to question 3, yes, a quorum consisting of a majority existed at the meeting on 6 November 2014. The municipality has 63 Councillors and 38 Councillors were in attendance. The second part of the question from the Honourable Mileham is an incorrect interpretation, because the court order dated 04 November 2014 did not serve to immediately preclude the 9 Proportional Representative Councillors from acting as or assuming any of the functions of councillors, as it was pending the application due on 18 November, to show cause why the order issued on the 04 November should not be made final.

(4) The above court order reads as follows:

4.1 That a rule nisi with return date 18 November 2014 is issued calling upon the Respondent to show cause why the following order should not be made final on the return date in terms of:

4.1.1 That the Respondents immediately restore undisturbed occupation of the premises situated at 54 Retief Street, Mokopane, to the Applicants and other staff members of the Applicant.

4.1.2 That the Respondents immediately restore undisturbed possession of all documents and other property of the First Applicant removed on 3 and 4 November 2014 from the premises situated at 54 Retief Street, Mokopane, to the Applicants.

(NB: These are the 2 rulings that are given immediate effect by the order, as per item 2 of the court order).

4.1.3 That the Respondents as well as any officials and/or other persons acting on their behalf be interdicted and restrained from:

4.1.3.1 Entering the premises at 54 Retief Street, Mokopane, unless written permission is granted by the Second Applicant.

4.1.3.2 Interfering in any manner whatsoever with the Council of the Applicant, its Municipal Manager and/or any official's ability or right to exercise their powers or perform their functions in terms of the Constitution and other applicable legislation.

4.1.4 The Tenth to Eighteenth Respondents be interdicted and restrained from acting as or assuming any function of duly elected councilors of the First Applicant.

4.1.5 That the costs of the application be paid by the First, Second and Third Respondents and any of the other Respondents who oppose this application, jointly and severally, on a scale as between attorney and client.

(5) That the rule nisi in 'prayer 2.1 and 2.2' above (e.g. 1.1 and 1.2 as per the court order) shall have 'immediate effect' as an interim interdict pending finalization of this application.

(6) The remainder of the order has not been included above because its provisions are administrative. Thus in summary, the 9 Proportional Representative Councillors were not barred by the court order of 04 November, because only the orders compelling the respondents to 'restore undisturbed occupation of the municipal premises' and to 'return documents and property of the municipality' had immediate effect. The other prayers were not granted pending the finalization of the application on 18 November 2014.

(7) In the interim, an application was launched on 10 November 2014 wherein applicants requested the courts to declare the council special meeting held on 06 November to be declared unlawful and to declare all resolutions taken in the said meeting to be null and void. The application was opposed and the matter had been set down for 18 November 2014, but was heard on 20 November 2014, whereupon the court struck the matter from the roll with costs for lack of urgency.

(8) This information means that the matters as referred to above are still pending and a date is awaited on a normal motion roll.

Reply received: December 2014

QUESTION NUMBER: 2695

2695. Mr K J Mileham (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) What (a) systems, (b) controls and (c) processes oversee the financial administration of the Bakgatla Ba Kgafela Tribal Administration?

(2) what amounts were transferred to the specified administration by any department or entity of the (a) national government and (b) provincial government (i) in the (aa) 2011-12, (bb) 2012-13 and (cc) 2013-14 financial years and (ii) since 1 April 2014;

(3) whether an audit was conducted of the financial affairs of the specified administration in the (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13 and (c) 2013-14 financial years; if not, why not; if so, what were the auditor's detailed findings in each case? NW3342E

REPLY:

(1) The Bakgatla Ba Kgafela Traditional Council (the Bakgatla), like other Traditional Councils in the North West Province, is subject to the provisions of the North West Traditional Leadership and Governance Act, 2005 (Act 2 of 2005). In terms of section 30 of Act 2 of 2005 the Premier is enjoined to open a trust account to hold the funds of the Bakgatla and from which they could meet their expenses.

The funds are managed by the Provincial Treasury. The Bakgatla account is monitored by Department of Traditional Affairs Sub-District Office and reconciled with the Provincial Treasury records on a monthly basis.

Annually, Traditional Councils compile and submit budgets for approval by the MEC responsible for Traditional Affairs in North West Province. The Sub-District offices are responsible for collecting funds and making the required obligatory payments. The North West Department through its officials at Sub-District Office level exercises oversight in matters related to finance and administration.

(2) As enjoined by section 34 of Act 2 of 2005, the Department supports the Bakgatla by way of grants. Annually, the Bakgatla get R30 000 to pay for overheads. In addition, the provincial government subsidises the salaries of about seven traditional council employees. There are two categories of employees, being security guards and clerical & others. Three security guards are currently subsidised to the tune of R162 578.91 per annum, while for clerical and related employees each gets about R120 285.60 per annum. The said subsidy is transferred monthly to the Bakgatla and paid over to the employees.

(3) Section 31 of Act 2 of 2005 empowers the Auditor General to audit the books and accounts of the Bakgatla. However, the books have not been audited, whilst finacial expediture is presented to the Traditional Council.

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2694 /2014

Mr K J Mileham (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) Whether he has found that the practice whereby municipalities provide a (a) funeral, (b) funeral policy and/or (c) funeral payout to municipal councillors at the municipality's expense is in line with the austerity measures announced by the Minister of Finance; if so, what are the guidelines and regulations pertaining to the specified practice;

(2) Whether any municipalities have such (a) funeral, (b) funeral policy and/or (c) funeral payout benefits; if so, what are the relevant details in each case? NW3341E

REPLY:

(1) The Notice on Upper limits of Salaries, Benefits and Allowances of councillors for 2013/14 enacted by my predecessor makes provision for Special Risk Cover for councillors. The Special Risk Cover for councillors makes provision to cover councillors properties, life and disability as a result of any violence.

The conditions for the Special Risk Cover are that it must be demonstrated that the incidents of loss to property or life took effect in the line of duty. Municipal councils must also ascertain affordability of any benefits contained in the Notice. Municipal councils must apply to the MEC to get concurrence for implementation before the implementation.

It has also been noted that the premiums for the life and disability cover have been exorbitant for municipalities; hence I will review the Special Risk Cover for the forthcoming 2014/15 Notice.

The offices of the MECs have been consulted regarding information on municipalities who have approved the Special Risk Cover. However, no information have been furnished by provinces at this stage.

Reply received: December 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO. 2687

Mr B M Bhanga (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative of Governance and Traditional Affairs

(1) Whether he has made any interventions to assist municipalities in promoting a cleaner environment through managing (a) refuse collection and (b) water provision; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details of such interventions?

REPLY

(1) Yes, the Department of Cooperative Governance is committed to addressing service delivery issues in municipalities, in line with the Back to Basics approach, launched by the President in September 2014.

(a) Through the Department's Community Work Programme (CWP), we have been able to contribute to making municipalities cleaner and more environment-friendly spaces for communities to live in. The Clean Cities, Towns and Villages Project has continued to enhance service delivery through the CWP. This is done through coordination of support of all relevant stakeholders towards the implementation of projects such as:

· Improvement of refuse collection in municipalities;

· Cleaning and greening initiatives;

· Eradication of illegal dumping;

· Refuse recycling initiatives; and

· Public awareness campaigns to promote environmental protection.

To date, the CWP has recruited 226 019 participants who through useful work have assisted municipalities with the removal of litter including the cleaning of streets, clearing of illegal dumping sites and participating in clean-up campaigns of targeted sites on a regular basis to keep the environment clean. CWP participants have enhanced refuse collection by collecting refuse not only in wards where they work but also in wards identified by municipalities as experiencing particularly severe refuse removal challenges. The participants put the refuse in plastic bags at a targeted area where the municipality comes to collect it.

As part of the Clean Cities, Towns and Villages Project, a seminar on Solid Waste Management was held in Pretoria on 24 July 2014, in partnership with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), through which two (2) Japanese experts were invited to address officials from all three spheres of government, including business institutions on issues of Waste and Environmental Management. Eighty (80) people attended the seminar and at least 17 municipalities were represented. The seminar was put together as a platform for dialogue to encourage cooperation between all three spheres of government and business institutions, and to provide officials in the Waste Management sector an opportunity to deliberate on waste management issues and challenges in South Africa. The seminar was convened to ensure that strategies that address relevant issues in waste and environmental management are developed and implemented.

(b) Government has adopted Outcome 9: Responsive, accountable, effective and efficient developmental local government system, Sub-outcome 1: Members of society have sustainable and reliable access to basic services as part of the Medium Term Strategic Framework.

DCoG has embarked on a process to align water backlogs in the 27 priority District Municipalities with grant funding for water which includes MIG, Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG) and the Municipal Water Infrastructure Grant (MWIG). This alignment process will result in a pipeline of costed water projects for each of the 27 District Municipalities. The Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA) is supporting DCoG with these processes.

At the end of the day, however, the management of refuse collection, clean environment and water provision requires leadership from Mayors, Municipal Managers and Councillors. They must be committed to ensuring that basic service provision works well. CoGTA will be undertaking further programmes to ensure that there is widespread compliance with these requirements.

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/2686

QUESTION

Mr B M Bhanga (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) Whether he will take action in relation to the (a) outcomes and (b) recommendations of forensic investigations in individual municipalities; if not, why not; what are the relevant details of the action he will take? NO3333E

REPLY

Yes, the department will take action in relation to the outcomes and recommendations of forensic investigations in individual municipalities as way of intensifying the fight against fraud, corruption and maladministration. The department is currently assessing forensic reports commissioned for Municipalities for the period April 2009 to September 2014. The assessment will outline the extent to which Municipalities are implementing outcomes and recommendations emanating from forensic reports and investigations. The assessment will assist in terms of facilitating criminal, civil and disciplinary actions emanating from the forensic reports.

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2661

QUESTION:

Mr B M Bhanga (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Whether he has issued an instruction to municipalities in areas identified as having potential for shale gas production‎ through hydraulic fracturing to include in their Integrated Development Plans (a) infrastructure requirements to service the hydraulic fracturing industry, (b) measures to mitigate risks associated with the hydraulic fracturing industry and/or (c) any other aspect associated with hydraulic fracturing; if so, ‎(i) what are the details of the instruction issued, (ii) when was the instruction issued and (iii) to which municipalities? NW3306E

REPLY:

No.

However, the Department of Mineral Resources issued the Technical Regulations for Petroleum Exploration and Exploitation in 2013 under section 107(1) of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act. The purpose of the draft regulations is to augment gaps identified in the current regulatory framework governing exploration and exploitation of petroleum resources, particularly in relation to Hydraulic Fracturing and prescribe good international petroleum industry practices and standards that will enhance safe exploration and production of petroleum. Any exploration will therefore be guided by the license conditions, regulations and any other relevant legislation.

The role of the Department will be, where necessary, to support municipalities to ensure that the necessary infrastructure requirements and related services are reflected in the IDPs.

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/2613

Mr C D Matsepe (DA) to ask the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

REPLY:

I am advised that my predecessor paid for the promotional magazines before my term of office.

(1) Amount spent on promotional magazines for

2011-12 – R 221 678.33

New Agenda – R 29 950.00

Black Moon Advertising – R107 075.18

Mail & Guardian – R 27 471.15

Magazine Advert – R 57 182.00

2012-13 – R 631 263.60

Media 24 – R 76 744.80

Avusa Media – R 68 263.20

TNA Media – R 486 255.60

2013-14 – R 770 526.00

Picasso Headlines – R 27 303.00

Cape Media Corporation – R 107 160.00

Times Media – R 136 800.00

Opportunity Magazine – R 41 040.00

Voice of Local Government – R 27 303.00

Leadership Magazine – R 66 120.00

Public Sector Manager – R 364 800.00

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO.2566

Mr A M Matlhoko (EFF) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(a) What immediate plans does his department have in place for the development of capacity and skills to ensure that his department does not rely on external service providers and consultants when officials in his department have been appointed to do the same job?

(b) What strategies does his department have in place to attract young black professionals, especially in critical skills like engineering and technical fields?

REPLY:

COGTA is currently implementing the Back to Basic approach that seeks to support municipalities with the aim of enhancing their capability to effectively execute their developmental mandate as envisaged in the Constitution. A key element of the Back to Basics approach is the implementation of measures aimed at enabling municipalities to create decent living conditions for citizens by consistently delivering municipal services at the right quality and standard. For this to be achieved, municipalities need to improve the way in which they plan for and deliver infrastructure and amenities, undertake the operations and maintenance of infrastructure, as well as budgeting for both the development and continuous upkeep of such infrastructure. The development of capacity and skills has two dimensions: within the department and within the municipalities.

COGTA intends to appoint more individual professionals with appropriate technical skills to strengthen the engineering and planning capacity required to support municipalities to enable them to undertake planning and project management more efficiently. This process of expanding the pool of technical professionals will be accompanied by a reduction in the reliance on consultants in providing support to municipalities.

Through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA), COGTA has been providing technical support to municipalities towards enabling them to implement their infrastructure development plans and to properly maintain and refurbish existing infrastructure assets in a systematic way. Currently, MISA has 48 engineers and seven planners assigned to support 122 municipalities throughout the country. Although these professionals are not permanently appointed by MISA, they are for all practical purposes full-time employees of the agency. MISA also relies on professional service providers (consulting companies) for supporting municipalities in respect to the process of dealing with specific deficiencies on their some elements of infrastructure delivery and management value chain. Such as infrastructure master plans, spatial development frameworks and infrastructure asset management plans.

COGTA has a comprehensive capacity building programme that focuses on assisting municipalities with the implementation of programmes that serves to boost their institutional capabilities. A key component of this broad programme is MISA's Technical Capacity Development programme that focusses on expanding a pool of skilled professionals for the build environment for the benefit of municipalities. This is achieved through a range of initiatives that include awarding of bursaries to students enrolling for technical qualifications in universities and FET colleges, apprenticeship and learnership programmes, artisan development programme, young graduates programme. All these are intended to develop young graduates into registered professionals in their respective fields and for them to be absorbed into municipalities.

MISA also implement tailor-made training programmes for municipal employees responsible for infrastructure development and management functions within municipalities. The main aim of this training is to upskill such individuals in a manner that enhances their level of proficiency when performing their functions. It also enables some of them to meet the requirements for registering with the relevant professional bodies. As part of implementing the back to basics approach the capacity building programme is being reviewed with the aim of making it more responsive to the needs of municipalities. Some area to be looked at in relation to the technical capacity development programme includes the process of assisting municipalities to better understand their capacity gaps and to position themselves to attract and retain individuals with scare technical skills. The ultimate aim is to improve the rate at which municipalities absorb qualified technical professionals and to retain them for the purpose of improving the delivery and maintenance of municipal infrastructure.

Reply received: November 2014

QUESTION NO. PQ2014/2564

Mr K P Sithole (IFP) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Whether he has found the salary of R3, 5 million per annum paid to CEO of the SA

Local Government Association (SALGA) to be justified; if not, what steps will he take to address this matter; if so, what are the reasons for his finding? NO3185E

Reply:

The Ministry and Department does not take part in the recruitment, appointment and determination of salaries of SALGA executives. The Board of SALGA, constituted by Councilors elected at the Annual General Meeting of SALGA, determines the conditions of employment of executives.

Nonetheless, according to SALGA, the amount stated is inclusive of non-guaranteed allowances payable to all employees (such as subsistence and travel allowances - when travelling on international trips that are similar to public service employees and municipal employees as well as the non-guaranteed annual performance based reward. The disclosed figure of R 3.5 million does not reflect a guaranteed portion of the Chief Executive Officer's remuneration as it also includes a variable components which is not guaranteed broken down as follows:

Mr. XC George:

Chief Executive Officer

Basic salary

Bonuses and performance related payments

Car allowance

Subsistence allowance

Cellphone allowance

Contribution to UIF

Total

R2 860 400

R370 275

R144 000

R102 383

R83 333

R1 785

R3 562 176

When the Chief Executive Officer assumed his role at SALGA 8 years ago, the organisation was under tremendous financial and management distress. Under his leadership as the administrative head, SALGA has drastically improved in its Governance, Strategic Direction, Organisational Performance, Financial management and Audit outcomes. Prior to the Chief Executive Officer assuming the administrative leadership role of SALGA, the organisation had successive DISCLAIMER of audit opinions from the Auditor-General. Currently, SALGA has had two successive unqualified audit outcomes; and these were preceded by three successive UNQUALIFIED audit outcomes. SALGA's organisational performance against pre-determined objectives has improved significantly to attainment of 96 percent as audited by the Auditor-General.

SALGA is committed to rectifying and normalizing the remuneration to be in harmony with the sector imperative of managing down the salary packages payable to Executive Management. This will also take into the account the upper limit guidelines that the Minister of CoGTA has prescribed for local government which compels municipalities to recruit new Executive Managers at salary packages that will be in line with prescribed salary limits, and SALGA will use this as basis when reviewing its salary packages for new recruits.

See the link for provinces: file://server/pmg%20shared/WORD%20DOCUMENTS/Questions/RNW2564O442-141201.htm

Reply received: December 2014

QUESTION NO.2561

Mr E M Mthethwa (ANC) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) In view of the facts that most municipalities, in particular those who are in rural areas, are not performing or performing poorly, how does he intend to strengthen or capacitate the municipalities to ensure (a) compliance with all services and (b) a clean audit report;

(2) whether there are any challenges; if so, what are the challenges? NW3162E

REPLY:

(1) (a)Through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA), CoGTA is currently providing hands on support to at least 122 municipalities throughout the country. MISA is an agency to CoGTA Ministry established in May 2012 as an institutional vehicle to manage and coordinate the provision of hands-on support to enable municipalities to develop and manage (operations and maintenance) infrastructure for service provision more effectively and efficiently. Municipalities currently receiving this kind of support are mainly those with low capacity, which are situated in rural areas. This is also reflected on the distribution of municipalities in this list with provinces that are predominantly rural like Kwazulu-Natal, Limpopo, Eastern Cape and North West accounting for relatively higher number of municipalities.

The support being provided in this regard is divided into two broad areas. Firstly, COGTA provides hands-on technical support intended to assist municipalities in planning for and development of municipal infrastructure for the delivery of services to citizens. There are 48 engineering professionals and seven (7) planners currently supporting municipalities in this regard. Over the past two years a total of 210 apprentices successfully took their trade tests to become qualified artisans, through MISA support.

The second area of focus is the development of skilled technical professionals and support to municipalities that seeks to get these municipalities to strengthen their internal human resources capacity for the performance of infrastructure and service delivery functions. This support programme mainly entails the artisan development sub-programme, bursaries for students studying towards qualifications within the build environment through universities and FET colleges, young graduates' development and the training of municipal officials responsible for infrastructure and service delivery. The objective of taking apprentices through practical training is to develop them until they qualify and register with relevant professional bodies as professionals in their respective fields of specialisation. Once they successfully complete the development programme, these professionals are absorbed by municipalities to work in technical departments.

Notwithstanding the current support highlighted above, the number of municipalities that continue to under-perform in relation to infrastructure and service delivery remains unacceptably high. It is for this reason that CoGTA intends to strengthen its technical capacity to support municipalities, with the objective of getting them to deliver services to the right quality and standard as part of implementing the Back to Basics approach. Under this approach, CoGTA will support municipalities in the implementation of their comprehensive infrastructure and maintenance plans.

We are also collaborating with National Treasury in providing institutional support to improve spending by municipalities on capital budgets with the objective of reducing service backlogs and ensuring that municipalities acquire the appropriate skills for infrastructure management. The Inter-Ministerial Team (IMC) for service delivery established by the President this year is also overseeing the work of unblocking and fast-tracking service delivery in municipalities around the country. Through the Back to Basics approach, we are introducing a district approach, to providing technical support to municipalities. In terms of these approach professionals with requisite technical skills will be contracted and assigned to a particular district with the intention of drawing on their technical expertise in supporting each of municipalities with such district in response to their individual needs.

(b) With regards to the audit outcomes of municipalities; this is primarily the responsibility of the National Treasury, the department is, however, assisting where it can to ensure that corrective measures to respond to the issues raised by the Auditor General are instituted by all municipalities, including those in rural areas in order to improve audit outcomes.

Municipalities are supported to develop and implement action plans in response to audit outcomes. After the action plans have been reviewed for adequacy in addressing the issues raised by the Auditor General, they are implemented by municipalities and that implementation is actively monitored by provinces.

The municipalities which have been categorized as dysfunctional during the assessment that preceded the Back to Basics initiative, irrespective of size will receive targeted support by provinces in this regard.

(2) Challenges facing municipalities in relation to the delivery of services relate mainly to shortage of skilled personnel and the inability of certain municipalities, especially rural ones, to allocate the necessary budgets to operations and maintenance. Most municipalities in rural areas struggle to attract and retain skilled technical professionals required for the effective performance of infrastructure and service delivery functions. This situation is attributable to the general scarcity of these skills making it difficult for smaller municipalities to compete with both bigger municipalities and the private sector for these skilled professionals. A key element of the Back to Basics approach is the support to be given to municipalities to ensure that they prioritise the acquisition and retention of people with critical skills such engineering, planning, financial management and others.

Due to an inadequate revenue base in most rural municipalities, these municipalities rely heavily on grants from the national revenue fund to finance both operational and capital spending. As a result of budget shortfalls, most of these municipalities have not been allocating finance in their budgets for operations and maintenance. To assist municipalities in this regard, CoGTA will work with relevant stakeholders to ensure that all municipalities set aside at least 7% of their operational budgets for infrastructure maintenance.

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/2560

Mr E M Mthethwa (ANC) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

QUESTION

With reference to the back to basic public participation principle, what concrete plans will he put in place to empower communities to hold the Government accountable?

REPLY

To this end, the "Back to Basics" concrete plans that will be put in place to empower communities to hold Government accountable include inter alia:

(i) Conduct periodic country-wide citizens' satisfaction surveys to assess local government performance from the perspective of citizens in relation to its responsiveness, representation and accountability. The results on each municipality will be published to ensure the development of a comprehensive and proactive agenda for communities and local government to engage in a meaningful dialogue and exploration of better ways for improving the delivery of municipal services and quality of local participatory democracy;

(ii) Ensure that Ward Councillors convene regular community feedback meetings;

(iii) Assist municipalities to develop community engagement plans that would inform the implementation of effective public participation programmes;

(iv) Develop guidelines and provide advice to municipalities on how to improve public participation;

(v) Monitor the establishment of ward committees and regulate their effective operation; and

(vi) Development of ward-based data bases of community concerns and remedial actions undertaken.

To promote greater accountability and transparency, the Department will collate and publish the "Back to Basics" indicators for public use. The basic measures to be monitored include:

(i) The existence of the required number of functional ward committees;

(ii) The number of community feedback meetings convened by Ward Councilors;

(iii) The number of effective public participation programmes conducted;

(iv) The regularity of community satisfaction surveys carried out;

(v) The functionality of the municipal complaint management systems based on the receipt, processing and consideration of petitions and complaints lodged by members of the local community; and

(vi) Utilization of CDWs, Ward Committees and Ward Councilors to communicate projects earmarked for implementation.

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO.: 2559

Mr E M Mthethwa (ANC) to ask the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

What will his department do to ensure that local and district municipalities deliver free basic services to the communities that desperately need them?

REPLY:

In terms of section 227 (1) of the constitution of the Republic of South Africa, each municipality is (a) entitled to an equitable share of revenue raised nationally to enable it to provide basic services and perform the functions allocated to it. The national government and provincial governments by legislative and other measures, must support and strengthen municipalities to exercise their powers and functions to effectively provide free basic services to communities.

The department is supporting municipalities to develop indigent registers. This is to ensure that the provision of Free Basic Services is targeted to the needy communities.

According to STATSSA non-financial census released in September 2014, all municipalities that have powers and functions to provide Free Basic Services are providing these services to the communities.

Reply received: December 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO: 2558

2558. Mr T W Mhlongo (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(a) Who is accountable for all finances allocated to the Royal Household of the Zulu Kingdom and (b) what amount has been allocated to the Royal household in the (i) 2011-12, (ii) 2012-13 and (iii) 2013-14 financial years? NW3151E

REPLY:

The information requested by the Honourable Member is not readily available within the Department. The Department has, however, requested Province of KwaZulu Natal to furnish the Department with the required information.

The Honourable Member will be provided with the requested information as soon as it is received from the royal household.

Reply received: November 2014

QUESTION NUMBER: 2505

Ms T E Baker (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) How many units of the Graskop housing project in Mpumalanga have been handed over to the local municipality by the Government of the People's Republic of China;

(2) whether these units are now occupied; if not, when is this process expected to commence; if so (a) how was the list of recipients compiled and (b) when was the list compiled;

(3) (a) what is the ratio of foreign labour to local labour used on this project and (b) from which country did the foreign workers originate;

(4) did he found that this project benefited the local labour market in the Graskop area through the transfer of skills and economic empowerment during implementation of its project; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;

(5) (a) from which countries was the material used for the construction of the houses sourced and (b) did any local companies benefit through being suppliers of material for this project; if so, what are the relevant details?

REPLY:

The question asked by the Honorable member of DA Ms. T E Baker is not within the purview of the Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. The question should therefore be referred to the Ministry of Human Settlements.

Reply received: December 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2468

Mr D America of the (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

How many work days has his Department lost to (a) sick leave and (b) strike action in the (i) 2011-12, (ii) 2012-13 and (iii) 2013-14 financial years.

REPLY:

(a) Sick Leave

(i) 2011-12: 2 015 Work days

(ii) 2012-13: 2 527 Work days

(iii) 2013-14: 2 610 Work days

(b) Strike Action

(i) 2011-12: No strike action in the Department.

(ii) 2012-13: No strike action in the Department.

(iii) 2013-14: No strike action in the Department.

Reply received: November 2014

QUESTION NO. PQ2014/2435

Mr S M Gana (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(a) What was the total remuneration of (i) board members, (ii) non-executive directors and (iii) executive directors of each entity reporting to him in the (aa) 2011-12, (bb) 2012-13 and (cc) 2013-14 financial years and (b) how many times did each board meet in the specified financial years? NW3028E

Reply:

(a) The entity which receives all of its funding from Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is the Municipal Demarcation Board. Small amounts of money is transferred to SALGA and the Cities Network which raise the bulk of their funds from other sources. The total remuneration of board members, non-executive directors and executive directors of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), The Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) and the South African Cities Network (SACN) are illustrated in the table below:

SOUTH AFRICAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION (SALGA)

(a) - (i),(ii) & (iii) - (aa), (bb) & (cc)	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14
Structure	Total Remuneration (R'000)
Board Members	R201,176	R173,371	R505,200
Non-Executive directors	R484,445	R360,564	R758,838
Executive Directors	R18,293,355	R21,299,140	R25,393,264
(b) - (i) & (ii) - (aa), (bb) & (cc)	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14
Structure	Number of board meetings
Board Members	5	6	5
Non-Executive Directors	12	8	8

Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB)

(c) - (i),(ii) & (iii) - (aa), (bb) & (cc)	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14
Structure	Total Remuneration (R'000)
Board Members	R2 623,000	R3 021,000	R2 613,000
Non-Executive Directors	-	-	-
Executive Directors	R1 480,000	R1 705,000	R2 781,000
(d) - (i) & (ii) - (aa), (bb) & (cc)	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14
Structure	Number of board meetings
Board Members	7	13	10
Non-Executive Directors	-	-	-

South African Cities Network (SACN)

(e) - (i),(ii) & (iii) - (aa), (bb) & (cc)	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14
Structure	Total Remuneration (R'000)
Board Members	-	-	-
Non-Executive directors	-	-	-
Executive Director	R1 852, 119	R1 446, 968	R1 582, 424
(f) - (i) & (ii) - (aa), (bb) & (cc)	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14
Structure	Number of board meetings
Board Members	3	3	3
Non-Executive Directors	3	3	3

Reply received: November 2014

QUESTION NO. PQ2014/2342

Mr K J Mileham (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(a) In the (i) 2011-12, (ii) 2012-13 and (iii) 2013-14 financial years, (aa) how many times has his department received a request from the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in accordance with section 184(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, to provide a report on measures taken by his department towards the realisation of the rights in the Bill of Rights concerning housing, health care, food, water, social security, education and the environment and (bb) how many times did his department submit such a report to the SAHRC in this regard and (b) in each case, was the report (i) made readily available to the public or (ii) tabled in Parliament? NW2928E

Reply:

I am informed that:

(a) (i) (aa)(bb) 2011-12: The Department did not receive any request from SAHRC.

(ii) (aa)(bb) 2012-13: The Department did not receive any request from SAHRC.

(iii) (aa)(bb) 2013-14: The Department did not receive any request from SAHRC.

(b) (i)(ii) Not applicable

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO. 2334

Mr M Hlengwa (IFP) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs:

a) Which municipalities used consultants in the 2012/13 financial year?

b) How much did each of these municipalities pay for these consultants

c) What was the audit outcome on these municipalities?

REPLY

a) According to the information received from the provincial CoGTAs and AGs, 195 municipalities made use of consultants in the 2012/13 financial year. Please refer to the attached link for details per municipality and per province: file://server/pmg%20shared/WORD%20DOCUMENTS/Questions/RNW2334-141201Annexure.htm

b) The total paid for consultants in 2012/13 financial year was R454 million Please refer to the attached annexure for details per municipality and summary per province.

c) What was the audit outcome on these municipalities?

The audit outcome of municipalities that used consultants are as follows:

(a) Unqualified audit opinions – 69 municipalities

(b) Qualified Audit opinions – 65 municipalities

and

(d) Disclaimers of audit opinions – 53 municipalities

Please refer to the attached annexure for the details per municipality and per province.

We will be in collaboration with professional bodies such as the Institute of Municipal Finance Officers and in particular the National Treasury, giving concerted attention to the issue of municipal management and associated issues.

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2242

Mr A G Whitfield (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional/ affairs:

(1) What was the status of Makana Municipality's (a) cash on hand, (b) debtors book and age analysis, (c) collection ratio and (d) monthly operating (i) income, (ii) expenditure and (iii) creditors book and age analysis for the 2013-14 financial year;

(2) (a) which capital grants were awarded to Makana Municipality in the 2013-14 financial year and (b) what amount was spent in each case;

(3) were any capital grant funds utilised for operational expenditure; if so, (a) what amount, (b) have any steps been taken in this regard and (c) what are the further relevant details;

(4) whether she has commissioned an independent forensic investigation in the Makana Municipality besides the Kabuso Forensic Report; if so, (a) what are the relevant details and (b) by what date will the investigation be concluded? NW2786E

REPLY

(1) I'm informed by Makana Municipality that:

(a) Its cash on hand in June 2014 was R2, 1 million

(b) Debtors stood at R242, 1 million and the breakdown in terms of age analysis was as follows:

(d).(i),(ii)The monthly operating income and expenditure as at June 2014 amounted to R294,2 million and R309, 1 million respectively and monthly breakdown is stipulated on the diagram below

(iii) The creditor's book and age analysis at the end of June 2014 was as follows

0-30 days R'000	31-60 days R'000	61-90 days R'000	Over 90 days R'000	Total R'000
R2.548 million	R51,177 million	R5.614 million	R25.495 million	R84.835 million

Makana Municipality owed its creditors R84 8 million at the end of June 2014.

(2)

(a) I have been informed that the 2013/14 Division of Revenue Act allocated the following grants directly to the Makana Municipality:

· The Neighbourhood Development Partnership

· Municipal Disaster Recovery Grant

· Expanded Public Works Programme( Integrated Grant)

· Municipal Infrastructure Grant

(b) As per Section 71 report published by National Treasury, the table below show the amounts spent for each grant by Makana Municipality as at end of June 2014.

R thousands	Total Available 2013/14	Transferred to municipalities for direct grants	Actual expenditure by municipalities	Actual expenditure by municipalities
Neighbourhood Development Partnership (Schedule 5B)	5 841	5 841	5 841	100%
Municipal Disaster Recovery Grant	8 724	8 724	2 785	32%
Expanded Public Works Programme Integrated Grant (Municipality)	1 000	1 000	1 379	138%
Municipal Infrastructure Grant	17 467	17 467	14 173	81%
Total	33 032	33 032	24 178	73%

(3) Yes I was informed that due to financial difficulties some capital grant funds were utilised for operational expenditure

(a) The department has not been informed of the exact amounts of grant funds utilised for operational expenditure. The department is awaiting for this information from the administrator.

(b) Yes, the department had implemented steps regarding the remaining funds to be transferred to Makana Municipality.

(c) The department requested National Treasury and Sarah Baartman district that the remaining funds for the Municipal Infrastructure Grant for Makana Municipality be reallocated to be transferred through the district through the service level agreement that was signed between Makana municipality and the district municipality. Furthermore, the Eastern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has placed the Makana municipality under Section 139 (1) (b) of the Constitution to deal with the root causes that gave rise to governance and financial difficulties facing the municipality.

(4) The Municipality has informed me that there is no other independent Forensic report commissioned besides the Kabuso Forensic report.

I wish to state emphatically that the malfeasance in Makana will be brought under close scrutiny and stopped. The intervention by the Province in this municipality will also assist in this regard

Reply received: November 2014

QUESTION NUMBER: 2172

Dr P J Groenewald(FF Plus) to ask the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs:†

(1) What is the total annual remuneration of the manager of each (a) municipality and (b) metro council;

(2) whether he will make a statement regarding the matter? NW2715E

REPLY:

See the link for reply: http://www.pmg.org.za/rnw2172-141118reply

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION 2171

QUESTION:

Dr P J Groenewald (FF Plus) to ask the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs:†

(1) (a) Which municipalities are currently under administration, (b) since which date has each specified municipality been under administration and (c) what is the monthly remuneration of each administrator in each such municipality;

(2) whether he will make a statement regarding the matter?

REPLY:

1(a) In reply to the first part of the question, there are 13 (thirteen) municipalities in four provinces that are currently under administration or subjected to interventions in terms of the different provisions of section 139 of the Constitution. Six of these municipalities are in KwaZulu-Natal, namely: Indaka, Mtubatuba, Imbabazane, Abaqulusi, Umvoti and Impofana local municipalities. The interventions in the aforesaid municipalities are in terms of subsection (1)(b), except for Indaka and Mpofana local municipalities, which are in terms of subsection (1)(a) and subsection (1)(c), respectively.

Mpumalanga has interventions in two municipalities, Emalahleni and Bushbuckridge local municipalities, and both are in terms of subsection (1)(b). The North West has interventions in three municipalities. They are Ditsobotla and Matlosana local municipalities, which are in terms of subsection (1)(b), as well as Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality, which is in terms of subsection (1)(c). The Eastern Cape has interventions in two municipalities, Makana and Inkwanca local municipalities. These interventions are in terms of subsection (1)(b) and subsection (1)(c), respectively.

1(b) Regarding the dates since which each specified municipality has been under administration, Indaka Local Municipality has been under an intervention by means of a directive issued in terms of subsection (1)(a) since 01 January 2014. This directive was issued as a form of an exit strategy after a long-standing subsection (1)(b) intervention in this municipality, which began in March 2010, was revoked in December 2013. For the sake of convenience, the dates since which each of the other municipalities were placed under administration appear in the table below:

Name of Municipality	Date of Intervention	Name of Municipality	Date of Intervention
Mtubatuba Local Municipality	19 September 2012	Imbabazane Local Municipality	23 January 2013
Abaqulusi Local Municipality	20 March 2013	Umvoti Local Municipality	17 July 2013
Mpofana Local Municipality	01 September 2014	Emalahleni Local Municipality	18 April 2013
Bushbuckridge Local Municipality	18 April 2013	Matlosana Local Municipality	10 April 2013
Ditsobotla Local Municipality	10 April 2013	Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality	01 October 2014
Makana Local Municipality	01 October 2014	Inkwanca Local Municipality	02 October 2014

1(c) Every Administrator in each of the six local municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal earns an all-inclusive monthly salary package of R135 188.48. The Administrator of Emalahleni Local Municipality is paid an amount of R157 800.72 per month, which excludes travelling expenses. In addition, there are two persons appointed to assist the Administrator, one of which is a financial expert and another is an engineer, at a monthly remuneration of R99 040.00 each. In Bushbuckridge Local Municipality, the Administrator's monthly remuneration is R150 000.00, while the Assistant Administrator is paid an amount of R135 000.00 per month. Both salary packages exclude travelling and accommodation costs.

Each Administrator in the three municipalities of North West earns an all-inclusive monthly remuneration of R75 000.00, and each has an intervention team appointed to assist them in the execution of their respective mandates. The intervention teams in Ditsobotla and Matlosana local municipalities have two members each, while the intervention team in Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality has five members. Members of the intervention team in Ditsobotla Local Municipality are each paid R64 275.00 per month, while members of the intervention teams in Matlosana Local Municipality and Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality are each paid R68 260. 50 per month.

The Administrator in Makana Local Municipality is paid a monthly remuneration of R327 882.00 for the first three months of the intervention, and will be paid an amount of R286 660.00 per month for the last three months of the intervention. In Inkwanca Local Municipality, the Eastern Cape Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs took a decision of seconding a Senior Manager to act as an Administrator in this municipality. This official is being remunerated at a General Manager level (R988 152.00 per annum), which is equivalent to R82 346.00 per month.

2 KwaZulu-Natal currently has the most number of interventions, compared with other provinces. Besides the fact that KwaZulu-Natal also has the highest number of municipalities, compared with other provinces, which probably makes the higher number of interventions in the province understandable, the prevalence of interventions in this province could also be partly attributed to its political dynamics, which have led to some municipalities ending up (after the last local government elections) with municipal councils in which no political party is in the majority. Some of these municipal councils have gone through or are still going through political instability which sometimes result in them failing to fulfil their executive obligations, thereby triggering the invocation of interventions in terms of section 139 of the Constitution.

There was difference in the amounts paid to appoint Administrators across the various municipalities under section 139 interventions. This could be due to the difference in the terms of reference or the outcomes expected from each Administrator in charge of the municipality, as determined by the nature and the scope of the intervention undertaken by the province concerned. However, the main contributory factor to this could be that there are currently no regulations in place governing the remuneration of Administrators.

In order to close the above loophole, the proposed Intergovernmental Monitoring, Support and Interventions (IMSI) Bill, which is currently before Cabinet, makes provisions for the appointment of Administrators, with a view to regulate these appointments. The IMSI Bill, if enacted, will give me powers to make regulations in relation to such appointments, including remuneration, benefits and other terms and conditions of appointment of Administrators.

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/2157

Ms MD Carter (Cope) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

1. Whether the department played any role with regard to the water crisis in Gauteng since it emerged in various parts of the country, to determine whether this was a systemic or self-caused problem stemming from the appointment of unsuitable and inadequately qualified personnel to key engineering and financial posts within municipalities; if not, why not; if so, what steps has his department taken to resolve the crisis expeditiously and systemically in order to help contain the hardship and losses this breakdown in supply of water has caused communities and businesses? NW2631E

REPLY

1. The department has been assisting the affected municipalities in Gauteng (City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, Mogale City Local Municipality, Lesedi Local Municipality and Randfontein Local Municipality) through the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

From the engagements between the affected municipalities, Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Department of Water Affairs and Rand Water, it was established that the water supply interruptions were due to technical glitches that affected the ESKOM power supply to Rand Water's pump station.

The department and its agency, the Municipal Infrastructure and Support Agency have been actively monitoring and involved in this matter.

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO: 2144

Mr KJ Mileham (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) Whether the vetting process of the Chief Director of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Khotso Frank Khasu, has been completed; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

REPLY:

All employees including Mr Khasu have submitted their security clearance forms. The Department is awaiting the outcomes of the vetting process.

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/2095

QUESTION

Ms S P Kopane (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) Whether, with regard to the threats by Eskom to cut off electricity supply to three Free State municipalities, he has found any lasting agreement with the (a) Free State Provincial Government and (b) the (i) Dihlabeng, (ii) Ngwathe and (iii) Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipalities for the payment of outstanding fees due to Eskom for the supply of bulk electricity; if not, why not; if so, what are the terms of the agreements between Eskom and each municipality;

(2) whether any measures have been put in place that will ensure the continued supply of bulk electricity to Free State municipalities in order to service (a) paying residents, (b) indigent residents and (c) essential services regardless of the failure by local municipalities to service their Eskom debt; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;

(3) Whether his department has adopted measures that would ensure that threats by Eskom to suspend electricity supply for any Free State municipality does not happen again; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

REPLY

(1)

(a) The Department has put a Task Team in place comprising of officials from the Department of Public Enterprises, Eskom Free State COGTA, Free State Provincial Treasury, and Office of Premier in Free State. The Task Team reports to the Ministers on progress regarding implementing actions developed to assist municipalities to pay for their bulk electricity supply by Eskom.

(b) (i), (ii), (iii) Yes, the department is putting in place a long term solution to assist municipalities to pay Eskom.

The details are as follows:

Following the assessment done to Dihlabeng, Ngwathe, and Maluti-a-Phufong municipalities by the Task Team it was found that there are a lot of basics that are not in place with regarding to electricity distribution in the affected municipalities. The long-term solution for these municipalities will therefore be to get the basics right by implementing implementing the "Back to basics Approach". Two of the affected municipalities (Ngwathe and Maluti-A-Phofung) fall within the category of non-functional municipalities as per the COGTA assessment. The Task Team to drive the back to basics in Free State is already in place to address the following in prioritised municipalities:

a) Putting people first

b) Delivery of basic services

c) Good governance

d) Sound financial management

e) Building capacity

(2) Yes, measures are being put in place. However, the honourable member should note that this work of supporting municipalities to pay Eskom is ongoing to ensure that municipalities are able service paying residents, indigent residents and essential services. The immediate step was to ensure that the municipalities should not fail to service the current account as billed by Eskom. The details of the measures that are being put in place are as discussed on 1(b) above.

(3) Yes the department has adopted measures that would ensure that municipalities are able to service their bulk electricity account with Eskom. The details are as has been provided in 1 (b) above.

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2079

QUESTION

Mr C D Matsepe (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(a) How many copies of his department's annual report for the (i) 2012-13 and (ii) 2013-14 financial years were produced and (b)(i) at what cost were these reports produced and (ii) to whom were these reports circulated?

REPLY

(a) (i) 800

(ii) 800

(b) (i) 2012-13 Annual Report cost R254 721.60, 2013-14 Annual Report cost R248 550.21. This includes the cost of editing, layout, printing etcetera.

(ii) 2012-13 copies of the Annual report were distributed to Parliament, National Treasury, the Auditor General South Africa, legal deposit libraries, all senior management staff at CoGTA and municipalities received copies of the Annual Report.

The 2013/14 Annual Report copies were distributed to the parliamentary liaison officer, National Treasury and the Auditor-General. However, the service provider is still printing more copies of the 2013/14 Annual Reports and they will be further distributed to the sector departments, legal deposit libraries, senior management staff at CoGTA and to all municipalities.

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION 2029

QUESTION

2029 Mrs C Dudley (ACDP) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Whether any irregularities have been reported with regard to the use of funds from the municipal budget in respect of the farm Krynauwslust in the Vrede district of the Free State; if so, (a) for what purpose were the funds used, (b) have the irregularities been investigated and (c) what are the relevant details?

ANSWER

The information requested by the Honourable Member is not readily available within the Department. The Department has, however, requested the department responsible for local government in the Free State Province, the Provincial treasury, the office of the Auditor General in the province as well as the Phumelela municipality for the information.

The Honourable Member will be provided with the requested information as soon as it is received from the Province and the municipality.

Reply received: October 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO PQ2014/1952

Mr K J Mileham of (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

Have any (a) provincial or (b) national officials of his department been (i) charged and (ii) found guilty in terms of section 38(1)(h) of the Public Finance Management Act, Act 1 of 1999; if not, why not, if so what are the relevant details.

REPLY:

(a) (i) and (ii) There are no provincial officials employed by the Department

of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

(b) (i) Two (2) Senior Managers, one at a Deputy Director- General and one at a Chief Director level, were charged (in the previous financial year (2013/2014) with financial misconduct. The cases were finalized in the current financial year (2014/2015).

(b) (ii) The Deputy Director - General was found not guilty and the Department filed an application for review at the Labour Court. He has since resigned with effect from 31September 2014. The Chief Director was found guilty and was dismissed from the Department on 23 September 2014.

Two (2) additional senior officials at Deputy Director-General and Chief Director Level were served with charges on 09 & 10 October 2014, respectively and the Department is pursuing the charges. The charges emanate from a tender awarded in 2010, which was investigated by the Special Investigation Unit, following the proclamation by the President, in January 2014.

Reply received: November 2014

QUESTION NUMBER: 1872

Ms A Steyn (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) What is the total salary package of (a) the municipal managers and (b) all section 57 managers of the (i) Gariep, (ii) Maletswai, (iii) Senqu, (iv) Elundini Local Municipalities and (v) Joe Gqabi District Municipality;

(2) whether these packages are within the prescribed salary bracket for managers of the specific categories?

REPLY:

The relevant municipalities have informed me that: see the link

http://www.pmg.org.za/rnw1872-141103municipalities

Reply received: November 2014

QUESTION NUMBER: 1870

Ms A Steyn (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(2) whether these packages are within the prescribed salary bracket for managers of the specific categories?

REPLY:

The relevant municipalities have informed me that: see the link

http://www.pmg.org.za/rnw1870-141028reply

Reply received: November 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/1863

QUESTION

Ms Z. Jongbloed (DA ) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) Whether he has found that the executive mayoral system for Kannaland Municipality complies with the relevant legislation; if not, will he investigate the constitutionality of the section 2 notice establishing the system; if so, what are the relevant details;

(2) Will he ask the relevant MEC to investigate the Kannaland Municipality in terms of section 106(1) of the Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000; if not, why not; if so, when? NW2238E

REPLY

(1) According to information received from the Western Cape Province, the MEC for Local Government established the Kannaland Local Munipality, as a Category B Municipality, with an executive mayoral system, combined with a ward participatory system in terms of section 12, read with Sections 3 and 9(d), of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act No. 117 of 1998) – ("the Structures Act"), through Provincial Notice No. 498 dated 22 September 2000.

Based on an analysis of the application of the relevant legislation to the Notice of establishment, the Kannaland Local Municipality, the executive mayoral system, with a ward participatory system is consistent with the applicable legislation.

The information received from the Western Cape Province, indicates that all the due processes in terms of compliance with the Structures Act were followed in establishing the executive mayoral system in Kannaland Local Municipality.

(2) Section 106 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act No. 32 of 2000) provides for the Minister to request the MEC to investigate maladministration, fraud, corruption or any other serious malpractice which, in the opinion of the Minister, has occurred or is occurring in a municipality.

No, allegations have not been brought to the attention of the Minister.

Reply received: November 2014

QUESTION NUMBER: PQ2014/1862

Mr B M Bhanga (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) What (a) was the City of Tshwane's monetary contribution to the Tribe One: Dinokeng Festival and (b) was the cost of (i) developing the roads, (ii) installing water supply, (iii) installing electricity supply, (iv) preparing the stage area and (v) any other investment made in relation to the hosting of the festival;

(2) from which budget was the financial contribution drawn;

(3) what (a) were the reasons for the City's decision to get involved with the festival and (b) was it hoping to gain by its involvement;

(4) did the City have any measures in place to monitor the expenditure of the funds provided; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;

(5) given the cancellation of the Festival, will the City act to recover the contribution to the festival from the relevant parties; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW2237E

Reply:

1. What (a) was the City of Tshwane's monetary contribution to the Tribe One: Dinokeng Festival

The City informed us that:

(a) that the city's monetary contribution was R25m allocated towards securing of the hosting rights, securing artists and a global rollout marketing campaign.

(b) the actual cost spent against the Municipality's allocated budget for this purpose is set out in the table below:

Item	Scope of work	Actual Cost
1	Installation of bulk electricity, internal reticulation, street lights and high mast lights	R 9 247 815.44
2	Construction of road infrastructure and signs	R 2 123 243.00
2	Installation of 20 Wifi hot spots	R 5 000 000.00
3	Construction of internal water network	R 4 464 232.71
4	Landscaping stage area (site clearance, irrigation system, laying of lawn)	R 3 085 729.62
Total		R 23 921 020.77

(2) From which budget was the financial contribution drawn?

This budget allocation was drawn from the Marketing, Communications and Events department's budget.

(3) What (a) were the reasons for the City's decision to get involved with the Festival and (b) was it hoping to gain by its involvement;

The City of Tshwane and the event organiser concluded an agreement wherein certain obligations were to be discharged. The City's obligations included a financial contribution as well as infrastructure development (mainly water, electrification, road grading) on a relatively rural site, chosen by the event organizers, in order to enable the successful staging of the festival in Dinokeng.

In return for the City's financial contribution, the City would obtain naming rights, brand recognition on a global scale and economic development spin offs in the Dinokeng/ Cullinan area and percentage of ticket sales.

The organisers further committed the percentage of the gate takings to go towards the Music Academy, which was to be built and located in Cullinan.

(4) Did the City have any measures in place to monitor the expenditure of the funds provided; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;

Yes, The City put in place a monitoring mechanism, which was informed by the project plan setting out what milestones were to be delivered. The Plan set out the number of meetings to be held to discuss the status of the project and to intervene where necessary.

(5) Given the cancellation of the Festival, will the City act to recover the contribution to the festival from the relevant parties; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

Yes, the agreement entered, set obligations to the parties and how the failure re-contractual obligation could be mitigated or resolved. The Department is currently engaged with the City to understand the above issues and what can be done to safeguard public resources. Wastage of public resources on these sorts of project is unacceptable.

Reply received: November 2014

QUESTION NUMBER: PQ2014/1839
Mr B M Bhanga (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(a) What amount is owed by the (i) national department, (ii) provincial departments and (iii) local governments to the Auditor General and (b) what is the age analysis of the debt owed for longer than 90 days? NW2213E

Reply
The above question on the creditors for National, Provincial and Local government needs to be referred to National Treasury as they are the Department that administers that information.

Reply received: November 2014

QUESTION NUMBER: PQ2014/1837
Mr K J Mileham (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs:

(1) (a) What norms and standards apply to the repair of potholes on municipal roads and (b) what is the average cost of such repairs;

(2) what is the average cost of the maintenance of municipal roads per kilometer?

NW2211E
REPLY:
The repair and costs of municipal roads are within the ambit of Department of Transport, which administers and manages the following grants: 1) Public Transport Network Operations Grant, 2) Rural Roads Asset Management System Grant and, 3) Public Infrastructure Grant. The question should therefore be referred to the Ministry concerned.

Reply received: October 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/1836

QUESTION

Mr K J Mileham (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) Whether since 1 January 2004 any amounts were paid by the Naledi Local Municipality to certain companies (a)Khasu Engineering Services or (b) Khotso Frank Khasu; if so,

(2) In respect of each specified company, what (a) amount was paid and (b) was each payment for;

(3) Whether the services paid for were actually received; if not, what steps have been taken to (a) recover the funds, (b) to lay criminal charges, (c) institute civil proceedings and (d) hold the municipal officials responsible for the payment of irregular, fruitless and/or wasteful expenditure; if so, was the workmanship of an acceptable standard?

REPLY

I am informed that:

(1) (a) Payments were made to Khasu Engineering Services from 11 April 2008 when the company entered into a contractual relationship with the Naledi Local Municipality.

(b) The Khotso Frank Khasu is the owner of Khasu Engineering Services no monies were paid to this individual in his personal capacity.

(2) (a) The total amount paid to Khasu Engineering was R87 936 656.05 which included an overpayment of R46 094 026.25. The payments made were for the installation of sewer and water internal services and the construction of 3000 top structures.

(3) According to a Technical report compiled by the Provincial Department of Human Settlement the following observations were made:

· That all the top structures did not comply with the minimum standards and extensive work needed to be done to rectify the structural and other engineering defaults.

· Only 90% installation of the internal water services for phase one which consisted of the 1500 stands was completed.

· There is still an outstanding requirement to install internal water and sanitation services for phase two for the 1500 remaining stands. The budget for the project was exhausted with only half of the work completed.

· The quality of the structures on the ground did not warrant the expenditure incurred, the top structures needed extensive remedial works to be carried out. As a result the contract with Khasu Engineering was cancelled.

(a &b)The Municipality instituted legal proceedings against the company for the overpayment. The matter served before the court and Naledi Local Municipality was granted a court order in its favour with regard to the repayment of the overpaid amount. To date, Khasu Engineering has failed to comply with the said order and have appealed against the court decision.

(d) Disciplinary procedures were instituted against the Municipal Manager (Mr. Mokwena) and the Acting Executive Manager: Infrastructure (Mr. GL Pretorius) for the overpayments to Khasu Engineering.

Reply received: October 2014

QUESTION NUMBER: PQ2014/1718

Ms. Z Jongbloed (DA) to ask the Minister of Corporate Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(a) How much did the Kannaland Municipality spend on the 2014 Freedom Day celebrations,

(b) from which budget did the Municipality draw the funding for this; what form did the celebrations take,

(d) how many people attended each event? NW2082E

REPLY:

a) According to the information we received from Kannaland Municipality, the money that was spent on Freedom Day Celebration is R155 000.00

b) The budget was from Special Projects vote of the Mayor.

c) One event was held and people from different towns in Kannaland were transported to the venue. The event was broadcasted on the regional radio station. Various speakers presented about the Freedom Day celebration and artists performed. The Mayor speech was broadcasted live on the regional radio station, Eden FM.

d) The Municipality catered for 3000 people and they did not count the total number of people who attended the celebration.

Reply received: October 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 1709

QUESTION

1709. Mr C D Matsepe (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Has the Sekhukhune District Municipality in Limpopo paid the balance due to a certain company (Retrospective Trading) for the construction of the pump station in Manoke Village; if not, (a) why not and (b) when will the payment be made; if so, what are the relevant details? NW2072E

REPLY:

We are informed that:

(a) No, the Sekhukhune District Municipality did not make any payments to Retrospective Trading as the company was not contracted to the municipality, but rather made the final payment to Messrs Matolane as the contracted service provider. Retrospective Trading was sub-contracted to Messrs Matolane.

(b) The final payment due to Messrs Matolane was processed in 2012 and retention was released at the end of the defects liability period of 12 months in accordance to the General Conditions of Contract for Civil Engineering Contracts 2010 Edition or as amended.

Reply received: October 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/1668

QUESTION:

1668. Mr W Horn (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

In respect of the valuation roll of the Mangaung Metro which came into operation on 1 July 2013, (a) how many appeals have been lodged against valuations contained in this valuation roll, (b) on how many days did the appeals tribunal dealing with these appeals meet to handle appeal hearings, (c) how many of the appeal hearings have been finalised and (d) in how many of the appeals in which the hearings have been concluded have the appeals been upheld? NW2029E

REPLY

(a) The municipality has informed me that it received 1434 appeals (in terms of section 54 of the Municipal Property Rates Act) lodged against the valuation roll as well as 3995 decisions of the municipal valuer which in terms of section 52 of the Municipal Property Rates Act must be reviewed by the Valuation Appeal Board. Section 52 requires any decision of the municipal valuer that adjusts the valuation of a property by more than 10 per cent upwards or downwards to be submitted to the Valuation Appeal Board for review.

(b) The Valuation Appeal Board sat on the following dates:

Date of meetings	Number of days per month
5; 6; and 7 February 2014	3 days
10; 11; and 12 March 2014	3 days
7; 8; and 9 April 2014	3 days
14; 15; and 16 May 2014	3 days
2; 3; 4; 23; 24; and 25 June 2014	6 days
10; 11; 28; and 29 July 2014	4 days
11; 12; 13; 25; and 26 August 2014	5 days

27 meetings took place between January and August 2014, and 2 meetings have been scheduled for October and November 2014 as follows:

Date of meetings	Number of days per month
20 and 21 October 2014	2 days
10; 11; and 12 November 2014	3 days

(c) The Valuation Appeal Board has completed 465 appeals and 1216 reviews of the decisions of the municipal valuer as at the end of August 2014.

(d) The Valuation Appeal Board upheld a total of 49 appeals and 268 reviews of the decisions of the municipal valuer.

Reply received: October 2014

QUESTION NUMBER: 1608

1608. Mr M H Redelinghuys (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) With reference to the powers of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, in terms of section 185(2) of the Constitution of the RSA, 1996, how many requests for investigation were received by the specified Commission in the (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13 and (c) 2013-14 financial years?

(3) How many investigations by the specified Commission were (a) finalised and (b) reported on in the (i) 2011-12, (ii) 2012-13 (iii) 2013-14 financial years? NW1969E

REPLY:

The information is provided in the table below:

	1.No. of requests for investigation	2.No. of requests for investigation agreed to	3.No. of investigations (a) finalized	4. No. of investigations (b) reported on
Culture	(a)2011-12=75 (b)2012-13=49 (c) 2013-14=37	(a)2011-12=19 (b)2012-13=30 (c)2013-14=16	(a)2011-12=18 (b)2012-13=21 (c)2013-14=12	(a)2011-12=19 (b)2012-13=21 (c)2013-14=16
Religion	(a)2011-12=5 (b)2012-13=28 (c)2013-14=11	(a)2011-12=05 (b)2012-13=28 (c)2013-14=7	(a)2011-12=05 (b)2012-13=21 (c)2013-14=7	(a)2011-12=05 (b)2012-13=21 (c)2013-14=7
Language	2011-12=4 2012-13=6 2013-14=2	(a)2011-12=02 (b)2012-13=06 (c)2013-14=01	(a)2011-12=02 (b)2012-13=06 (c)2013-14=01	(a)2011-12=02 (b)2012-13=06 (c)2013-14=01
	TOTAL=217	TOTAL=114	TOTAL=93	TOTAL=98

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO. 1593

Mr M G P Lekota (Cope) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

QUESTION:

(1) Whether, in view of the staggering number of incidents of service delivery protests at local government level and the violence related thereto, he intends to create a community grievances office within his department, staffed by fit and proper persons with the requisite qualifications, to enable communities to report their grievances to them for expeditious and professional action, if not, why not, if so, and

(2) Whether he will make a statement on this matter? NW1710E

REPLY

(1) Section 17 sub section 2(a) of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 provides for municipalities to establish appropriate mechanisms, processes and procedures to enable the local community to participate in the affairs of the municipality. Municipalities must for this purpose provide for, amongst others: the receipt, processing and consideration of petitions and complaints lodged by members of the local community. However, not all the municipalities have systems and structures in place to respond effectively to community grievances. In light of this, and as part of the Back to Basics approach, which emphasises "Putting People First", making municipalities accountable and responsive to community needs, the department is implementing various support measures for small and poorly capacitated municipalities to put in place appropriate systems to deal with community grievances. These include amongst others, the establishment of petition management committees at municipal level and ward level databases of community concerns and remedial actions. Other systems and mechanisms that have been put in place at national level include:

· The Presidential Hotline: A centralized complaint management system that receives, categorizes, validates, documents, refers, resolves and escalates complaints to the relevant departments for attention.

· The National Anti-Corruption Hotline: This is an effective management tool designed to enable concerned employees in the public service, the public as well as third parties associated with public service to participate in the reporting of corruption.

· Municipal Customer Service Standards and Charters: The main purpose of a customer charter / code of practice is to improve access to an organization's services and promote quality. It does this by engaging customers on the standards of service to expect what to do if something goes wrong and how to make contact.

To complement the above-mentioned systems in view of the escalating incidents of service delivery protests which are often violent in nature, the department intends to establish a centralized Information hub to be located at national level. The Centre will coordinate, follow-up and resolve all local government related referrals from the Presidential and the Anti-Corruption Hotlines as well as receiving service delivery grievances directly from community members. Notably, this early response system will allow Councilors, MECs and Premiers to intervene either in response to protests or to prevent them from occurring.

(2) I will make further statements with regard to this in due course.

Reply received: October 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/1567

QUESTION

Mr. M Waters (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

1. How many electricity outages were reported in the Ekurhuleni Metro in Gauteng in each of the first eight months of 2014?

NW 1937E

REPLY

1. Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality has informed us that there were a total of 1375 recorded power outages in the period under review - January to August 2014. With March 2014 experiencing the highest number and February 2014 the lowest.

Number of Electricity Power Outages for Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality – Jan – Aug 2014
Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Total
189	140	213	173	146	186	177	151	1375

The reasons for these outages are currently being established.

Reply received: October 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 1557/2014

QUESTION

Ms A Steyn (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) Whether any investigation was launched into the financial affairs of the Senqu Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, if so (a) by whom and (b) what is the current status of the investigation;

(2) Whether the specified municipality has been making a financial contribution to the legal costs of any of its managers or councillors; if so (a) what amount did the municipality contribute, (b) in respect of which managers or councillors was the contribution made and (c) who approved it? NW1927E

REPLY

1. Yes

The National Department in consultation with the Provincial Cogta requested the law enforcement agency to conduct the investigation into a number of allegations including the financial irregularities reported by the members of civic association in 2012. The investigations are ongoing, however there are two senior officials who have been arrested already and will appear in court on the date to be announced.

(2) The ongoing investigation will reveal whether the municipality has been making any financial contribution to the legal costs of any of its managers or councillors. Furthermore, the MEC of the concerned provincial local government has also established a fact finding team to look at the governance issues of the municipality and also to establish if any contribution was made towards the legal costs of the managers or councillors. In the event that the municipality has contributed to such legal costs, the MEC will order the municipal council to take action against the official who approved the contribution and to ensure the funds are recovered from the managers or councillors who benefited from such contribution.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO PQ2014/1556

QUESTION:

Ms J Steenkamp (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) What amount was spent by the Joe Gqabi District Municipality in the Eastern Cape on its Women's Day event held on 5 September 2014, at Sauer Park in Aliwal North;

(2) whether a certain political party's (name furnished) branding was present at the event; if so, why;

(3) has the municipality taken any steps to ensure that government funded events are not a campaign event for a specific political party; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW1926E

REPLY 1:

I am informed by the municipality that:

(1) This event was championed by the Joe Gqabi Women caucus and the Women Economic Empowerment, held on the 5th September 2014, at Sauer Park in Aliwal North it was coordinated by Joe Gqabi Municipality and the budget spent was an amount of R 99 792.84.

(2) There was no political party's name branded at the event.

(3) Yes, Joe Gqabi municipality has taken steps to ensure that the events are not campaign events.

Reply received: October 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/1555

QUESTION

Mr K J Mileham (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Was the (a) Buffalo City Property Rates Policy as adopted by Council, (b) Buffalo City Property Rates by-law as adopted by Council, (c) Buffalo City schedule of rates and tariffs as adopted by Council and (d) Buffalo City Credit Control and Debt Collection Policy as adopted by Council, promulgated in the Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette in the (i) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12, (iii) 2012-13 and (iv) 2013-14 financial years; if not, why not; if so, on which dates were they published?

REPLY

(a) and (b):

The municipality implemented its first General Valuation in terms of the Municipal Property Rates Act in July 2009 and the first rates policy was adopted by Council on 4 June 2009.

A property rates by-law which gives effect to the implementation of the rates policy was promulgated in the Provincial Gazette No. 2141 in June 2009. The annual review of the rates policy did not necessitate an amendment of the by-law and accordingly the by-law remained valid for the subsequent years (listed above).

(c) The rates tariffs for 2009/10; 2010/11; 2011/12 and 2012/13 were all promulgated in the Provincial Gazette No. 2842 on 29 October 2012. The rates tariffs for 2013/14 were promulgated in the Provincial Gazette No. 2987 on 22 July 2013. The reason as to why the rates tariffs pertaining to the first 4 municipal financial years were not promulgated annually is, according to the municipality, based on the fact that the current Municipal Property Rates Act does not pronounce as to whether a resolution levying rates must be promulgated annually or not. It needs to be noted that the 2014 Municipal Property Rates Amendment Act provides legal clarity to municipalities by pronouncing that the rates tariffs should be promulgated annually and within 60 days of the date of the Council resolution.

The response pertaining to user service charges (tariffs) is included under (d) below.

(d) The by-law giving effect for the implementation of the credit control and debt collection policies together with the tariffs policies for all the years under question was gazetted in the Provincial Gazette Extraordinary, No. 1554, on 3 June 2006. This Gazette remained in effect until these policies were amended hence there was no obligation on Council to review the by-law. The municipal by-law did not require the municipality to publish in the Provincial Gazette the schedule of user service charges (tariffs).

The latest credit control and debt collection policy review was approved by Council on 28 May 2014 and the corresponding credit control and debt collection by-law was reviewed and approved by Council on 25 June 2014. This by-law was gazetted in the Provincial Gazette Extraordinary, No. 3230 on 28 July 2014. The latest tariff policy was also adopted on 28 May 2014 and promulgated in the Provincial Gazette No. 3240 on 11 August 2014 as a by-law.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO: PQ2014/1554

Honourable K J Mileham (DA) to ask the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) With regard to each of the eight metropolitan municipalities, what amount was written off in the 2013-14 financial year as (a) irrecoverable debt, (b) irregular expenditure, (c) fruitless and wasteful expenditure and (d) unauthorised expenditure;

(2) For each metro municipality, what amount was condoned by the council as (a) fruitless and wasteful expenditure, (b) unauthorised expenditure and (c) irregular expenditure;

(3) whether a portion of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant was unspent in the 2013-14 financial year in each metro municipality; if so, (a) what amount was unspent, (b) what percentage of the total allocated amount was unspent and (c) why was it not spent?

Reply:

(1) And (2) (a), (b), (c) National Treasury provided the details in the table below which illustrates the 8 metropolitan municipalities, irrecoverable debt, irregular expenditure, fruitless and wasteful expenditure and unauthorised expenditure for the 2013-14 financial year including the amounts condoned for each.

2013/14
	Irregular Expenditure		Fruitless and Wasteful expenditure		Unauthorised
	Irrecoverable /Written off	Condoned	Irrecoverable/Written off	Condoned	Irrecoverable / Written off	Authorised
Buffalo City	1 123 747 972	None	None	None	None	None
Cape Town	None	None	None	None	None	None
Ekurhuleni			None		None	None
Ethekwini		25 254 000	None		None	None
City of Joburg	None	260 000	None	648 000	None	None
Mangaung	None	None	None	None	None	None
Nelson Mandela	None	None	None	None	None	270 777 602
City of Tshwane	None	None	None	None	None	None

(3) The 8 metros do not receive the Municipal Infrastructure Grant. They received the Urban Settlement Development Grant which is administered by the department of Human Settlements.

Reply received: October 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/1553

QUESTION

Mr KJ Mileham (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

1. Whether there are any municipalities who implemented higher tariffs and/or tariff increases for electricity than those stipulated by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA); if so, (a) which municipalities and (b) what was the tariff and/or tariff increase for each of these municipalities?

2. Whether NERSA condoned the tariff and or tariff increase in each case; in not, why not; if so, on what basis was it condoned?

3. What steps he intends to take to ensure compliance with NERSA determinations? NW1923E

REPLY

1. NERSA has informed us that there are three municipalities that have implemented higher tariffs than those approved by the regulator. However two out of the three municipalities have reverted back to implementing NERSA approved tariffs.

Name of Municipality (1)a,b	Approved tariff increase	Tariff increase implemented by the municipality	Corrective action taken to ensure compliance with NERSA determination (3)
1. Buffalo city Metro	7.39%	7.39%	NERSA engaged with the municipality regarding the implementation of illegal tariffs. Subsequent to that the municipality reverted back to implementing NERSA approved tariffs.
2. Mogale City	7.39%	The municipality is implementing higher tariffs for both conventional and prepaid domestic block tariffs	This has recently come to the attention of NERSA and currently investigations are underway. NERSA will be engaging with these municipalities to address the issue
3. InxubaYethemba	10%	10%	The was implementing higher tariffs however the municipality has reverted back to implementing NERSA approved tariffs

2. We are informed by NERSA that it does not condone implementation of tariffs that are higher than the approved tariff. This is due to the fact that Section 16(2) of the Electricity Regulation Act, 2006 (Act No 4 of 2006) provides that a licensee may not charge a customer any tariff other than that determined or approved by the Energy Regulator as part of its licensing conditions.

3. As part of improving the sustainable service delivery to communities, the department has initiated a mechanism of focusing on municipal services and tariff regulation and the department will work with economic regulators as well sector departments that regulate service tariffs such as the Department of Water and Sanitation. This mechanism forms the integral part of the Back to Basic Approach regarding appropriate tariff setting that ensures sustainable service delivery.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 1520/2014

QUESTION

Ms T Stander (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Whether (a) his department and/or (b) any entities reporting to him sponsored political party (i) advertisements, (ii) events and/or (iii) paraphernalia in the (aa) 2011-12, (bb) 2012-13 and (cc) 2013-14 financial years; if so, (aaa) for which political party and (bbb) what was the monetary value of the sponsorship in each case?

REPLY:

No.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/1490

QUESTION

Mr L W Greyling (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

What is the quantum of funds spent by his department on all advertising for each financial year between 1 April 2010 up to the latest specified date for which information is available? NW1856E

REPLY

The amount of funds spend on advertising by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional affairs are as follows:

Expenditure Item	Financial Years
	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14
	R'000	R'000	R'000	R'000
Advertising costs	2 879	5 835	4 410	4 352

The advertising costs of the Department comprised mainly of the advertisement costs for the recruitment of personnel, advertisement of tenders in the Government Bulletin and newspapers as well as departmental marketing in the media.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION PQ 2014/1457

QUESTION

Mr G MacKay (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(a) Which travel agents has his department used during the period 1 April 2012 up to the latest specified date for which information is available and (b) what is the quantum of funds spent with each of the specified travel agents in the specified period? NW1823E

REPLY

(a) Travel With Flair (TWF)

(b) Service fees

2012/13

2013/14

2014/15

Till 31 August 2014

TOTAL

R3 588 501.00

R2 207 847.00

575 596.00

R6 371 944.00

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 1324

QUESTION

Mr M Hlengwa (IFP) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

How much did the City of Johannesburg metropolitan Municipality spend on corporate gifts in the (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13 financial years? NW1620E

REPLY

I am informed by the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality that it spent:

(a) R1.9 million in the 2011/12 financial year,

(b) R678 000 in the 2012/13 financial year.

And these amounts mainly related to the purchases of gifts such as T-shirts, caps, pens, notebooks, umbrellas, water bottles and bags for stakeholders hosted by the City during various events.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 1323/2014

QUESTION

Mr K P Sithole (IFP) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

How much did the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality spend on corporate gifts in the (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13 financial years? NW1619E

REPLY

We are informed that:

(a) An amount of R20, 103.76 was spent on corporate gifts in 2011/12 financial year.

(b) An amount of R65, 128.54 was spent on corporate gifts in 2012/13 financial year.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 1322/2014

QUESTION

Mr M Hlengwa (IFP) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

How much did the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality spend on corporate gifts in the (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13 financial years? NW1618E

REPLY

We are informed that:

(a) An amount of R14 273 was spent on corporate gifts in the 2011/12 financial year.

(b) No expenditure was incurred on corporate gifts in the 2012/13 financial year.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 1321/2014

QUESTION

1321. Mr K P Sithole (IFP) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

How much did the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality spend on corporate gifts in the (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13 financial years? NW1617E

REPLY

I am informed by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality that:

(a) An amount of R285 275 was spent on corporate gifts in the 2011/12 financial year.

(b) An amount of R258 748 was spent on corporate gifts in the 2012/13 financial year.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 1320/2014

QUESTION

1320. Mr K P Sithole (IFP) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

How much did the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality spend on corporate gifts in the (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13 financial years? NW1616E

REPLY

I am informed by the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality that:

(a) An amount of R84 753.36 was spent on corporate gifts in the 2011/12 financial year.

(b) An amount of R27 700.00 was spent on corporate gifts in the 2012/13 financial year.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 1312

QUESTION

1312. Mr C D Matsepe (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) Is the sewer purification centre located in the Elias Motsoaledi Municipality functioning sufficiently; if not, why not;

(2) Will he consider handing over the management of the sewerage purification centre from the Sekhukhune District Municipality to the Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality as was the case before; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW1608E

REPLY

(1) The sewer purification centre in the Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality is not functioning sufficiently. This is as result of vandalism and cable theft for electronic motors, pumps and electrical panels.

(2) Lepelle Northern Water Board has been appointed by the Sekhukhune District Municipality to take over the operations and maintenance of these works. The process of the repairs is already underway as the water board is in the process of appointing the service provider to replace all stolen items and refurbish the vandalised items.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 1276/2014

QUESTION

Mr B M Bhanga (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) Whether, with reference to the reply to question 2862 on 19 November 2013, the determinations contained in the report on the appointment of a certain person (name and details furnished), issued by the former Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Lechesa Tsenoli, (details furnished), have been acted upon; if not, (a) why not and (b) what action has been or will be taken as a result of this non-compliance; if so, what are the relevant details;

(2) whether, with reference to the appointment of the said person to a certain position (details furnished), a waiver was granted with respect to the required qualifications for appointment as a municipal manager as set out in Treasury Circular 60; if not, why not; if so,

(3) what conditions were attached to this waiver and (b) were the conditions of the waiver complied with; if not, what action has been or will be taken as a result of this non-compliance; if so, what are the relevant details? NW1567E

REPLY

1 The Municipal Systems Act requires municipalities to submit a report to the MEC responsible for local government after an appointment of a municipal manager. After receiving an enquiry from the Eastern Cape office of the Public Protector in this regard, the Minister decided to conduct an investigation into the matter. A letter has been sent to the MEC responsible for Local Government in the Eastern Cape requesting a report to the Minister.

2 This will be determined by the outcome of the investigation.

3 This will be determined by the outcome of the investigation.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 1245

QUESTION

Mr M H Redelinghuys (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Whether the formulae for determining the number of councillors in each municipality for the 2016 Local Government Elections have been finalised in accordance with section 20 of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, Act 117 of 1998; if not, by what date does he intend to have the formulae (a) finalised and (b) gazetted?

REPLY:

Yes.

The formulae for the determination of the number of councillors of municipal councils was, in terms of section 20 of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act No. 117 0f 1998), published in Government Gazette No. 37988 on 9 September 2014.

A copy of the Gazette is attached herewith.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 1243

QUESTION

Ms N V Nqweniso (EFF) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Whether he has investigated tenders in areas such as Ncora, Cofimvaba, in the Eastern Cape where projects such as roads, schools and clinics are incomplete; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW1520E

RESPONSE:

No, however, the matter will be investigated.

The construction of schools and clinics is the competency of the departments of Education and Health with the department of Public Works as an implementing agent. Therefore the MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional affairs does not have the required information at hand.

However, the municipality of Intsika Yethu has projects on construction of roads that are planned in this financial year. The MEC has not received any reports of irregularities with regard to the Road project or any other project in the municipality and therefore no investigation has been initiated.

The MEC will dispatch a team on a fact finding mission to establish if there are any irregularities regarding the road project.

Reply received: September 2014

QUESTION NUMBER: 1241

1241. Mr A M Matlhoko(EFF) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Whether, in view of the current situation where some of the traditional leaders are perceived to receive special treatment and preference over others, a programme exists to address inequalities and the segregation of traditional leaders; if not, why not? NO1518E

REPLY:

The Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act, No 41 of 2003 promotes uniformity and equality amongst traditional leaders.

The tools of trade for traditional leaders were determined by the Seriti Commission in order to address inconsistencies and ensure standardisation and uniformity regarding support provided to traditional leaders across Provinces.

In 2013, as part of implementing the determination by Seriti Commission, the Department of Traditional Affairs developed Minimum Norms and Standards for provision of resources to traditional leaders to address the inconsistencies. Implementation of the norms and standards will over time ensure uniformity amongst all the traditional leaders in terms of the provision of resources. To this end, Provinces are currently developing their handbooks informed by the Minimum Norms and Standards.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO. 2014/1240

Mr K J Mileham (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:[ê133] [Question submitted for oral reply now placed for written reply because in excess of quota [Rule 108(8)]]

Is the Minister planning to introduce legislation to govern interventions in terms of section 100 and section 139 of the Constitution; if not, why not; if so, (a) what are the relevant details and (b) when will this legislation be introduced? NW1511E

REPLY:

1(a) I confirm that plans are in place in the Department for the imminent introduction of legislation to govern interventions in terms of sections 100 and 139 of the Constitution, if the necessary approval is granted.

(b) This legislation (the Intergovernmental Monitoring, Support and Interventions Bill) will be introduced before Parliament upon approval by the Cabinet, if the latter grants such approval. We are awaiting the Governance and Administration Ministerial Cluster to conclude its process before the Bill can be considered by the Cabinet.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/1239

QUESTION

Mr B M Bhanga (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Which (a) municipalities and/or (b) municipal officials are currently being investigated by the (i) Public Protector, (ii) Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) and/or (iii) Special Investigating Unit? NO1508E

REPLY

(a) The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has received and referred a number of allegations of corruption to the Provincial Cooperative Governance Departments as provided for in terms of section 106 (4) (a) of the Municipal Systems Act, 2000 as well as refer those that warrant forensic investigations to the law enforcement agencies mentioned in the questions above. The allegations currently being investigated by the Public Protector, are allegations that have been referred directly by the members of the public and not by COGTA.

(i) According to the information received from the Public Protector, the following allegations attached as Annexure Aare currently being investigated in municipalities. In total, there are 149 municipalities being investigated for various offences by the Public Protector.

See the link for Annexure A: http://www.pmg.org.za/rnw1239-140922annexurea

(ii) With regard to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), the following are the municipalities that are currently under investigations. The names of the officials cannot be disclosed because some matters are still sub-judice.The up dated list for Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape municipalities will only be available within a week and with the additional information from the two provinces, the number of the investigations would increase. See the link: http://www.pmg.org.za/rnw1239-140922province

(iii) The Special Investigating Unit is currently investigating the following municipalities.

North West: The Presidential report in respect of all 24 municipalities is still a draft and will be submitted to the Office of the President once finalized.	Madibeng LM Greater Taung LM Mafikeng LM Ventersdorp LM Dr Kenneth Kaunda DM Matlosana LM Maquassi Hills LM Tlokwe LM Ngaka Modiri Molema DM Ditsobotla LM Tswaing LM Ramotshere Moiloa LM Ratlou LM Moses Kotane LM Ketlengriver LM Dr Ruth Mompati DM Rustenburg LM Naledi LM Kagisano LM Molopo LM Mamusa LM Lekwa-Teemane LM Bojanala Platinum DM Moretele LM
Gauteng	Tshwane Metro Ekurhuleni Metro Midvaal LM
Limpopo	Vhembe DM Greater Tubatse LM
Mpumalanga	Bushbuckridge LM
Free State	Kopanong LM

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO. 2014/1235

QUESTION

Mrs N Mthembu (ANC) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) With regard to violent protests, what is the stance and approach of the Government and his department on damage to public and private property and the threat to the life of members of the community? NO1489E

REPLY

Addressing the volatile situation of protests, the President and various Cabinet Ministers have on numerous occasions called for restraint. Although the Constitution grants people the right to protest, this should be done within the ambit of the law, and in a peaceful manner. I, once again, have to point out that the violent nature of community protests must be attended to. In a democracy, problems cannot be solved through violence and anger.

Therefore, while understanding the right of communities to protests, and acknowledging that often there are weakness in government communication and community engagements at local level, Government cannot tolerate the destruction of property and the violent nature of protests.

Cabinet has at various time given attention to the issues of protests as well as addressing some of the underlying issues. The South African government has policies and programmes to speed up the delivery of basic services in all communities, especially those most affected by backlogs. There are currently 27 district municipalities that have been prioritised for attention due to the prevalence of extreme poverty and underdevelopment.

CoGTA will strengthen its existing Rapid Response capability through working with IMC Task Team on Service Delivery, other key National Departments, Provinces and mobilization of other key delivery vehicles.

Reply received: October 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO. 2014/1234
QUESTION
Mrs N Mthembu (ANC) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) In what way has transformation of local government helped to ensure a higher level of accountability and oversight in the past two decades? NO1488E

REPLY

(1) The Honourable Member's question is an important question and must be read in conjunction with the significant advances have been made in establishing a single local government system from the fragmented, undemocratic, unaccountable and racially divided apartheid system over the past two decades.

(2) The transformation of local government occurred in three phases (called the pre-interim, interim and final phases) and took almost a decade to complete (1993 - 2000). The overall objectives were the abolishing of local governance based on race, integrating previously divided communities under one municipal authority and tax base, establishing democratically elected local government throughout the country, and extending service delivery to the majority of the population and the poor in particular who had been deprived of access to services and infrastructure under apartheid.

(3) To fully appreciate the scope of the new vision for local government as outlined in the Constitution, the White Paper for Local Government and subsequent legislation, it is beneficial to take stock of how local government was structured and operated before 1994.

(4) The apartheid system of local government was structured to divide citizens geographically and to ensure that only a small minority of residents benefited from development.

(5) Building on the Constitution, the 1998 White Paper on Local Government paved the way for a modern local government system with clear developmental objectives. The number of municipalities was rationalised from 843 before 2000, and to 278 after the 2011 municipal elections. A new fiscal framework was instituted that guaranteed local government a share of national revenue. Policies and support structures were put in place with the intention of building the capacity of local government to deliver municipal services.

(6) The Constitution, the White Paper for Local Government and the regulatory framework for local government all emphasise effective structures for citizen participation. Citizen participation is built-in to the basic structure of municipal government at various levels. Some of the measures that facilitate public involvement are:

i. Participation in the preparation of the integrated municipal development plan and budget;
ii. The implementation of a performance management system and reviews of performance;
iii. Decisions about service delivery;
iv. Council and its committee meetings are in principle open to the public and media:
v. complaints management processes;
vi. Notification requirements for about meetings and making information available to the public;
vii. Accommodating communities with special needs;
viii. Catering for gender representation on advisory committees;
ix. Report back to communities; and
x. Members of the public also have the right to appeal a decision of council and petition council directly.

(7) Thus, the institutional framework is well-established and can foster transparent, responsive and accountable municipal government. A wide variety of statutory rules and instruments relating to transparency of proceedings, reporting obligations, and access to information provide the basic structure for all forms of accountability.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/1233

MR M HLENGWA (IFP) TO ASK THE NATIONAL MINISTER OF COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS:

What plans are in place to implement the recommendations of the Municipal Demarcation Board with regard to the merging and/or dissolution of certain municipalities for the 2016 local government elections?

REPLY

The outer boundaries of municipalities were confirmed by the Municipal Demarcation Board during October 2013, and subsequently handed them over to the Independent Electoral Commission. The number of municipalities post the 2016 municipal elections will be reduced from 278 to 267, with the reduction of 11 local municipalities, 1 district municipality, and the addition of 1 metropolitan municipality. These changes will only affect the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

Section 14(5) of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act No. 117 of 1998) provides that the MEC for local government in a province, by notice in the Provincial Gazette, may make provision for transitional measures to facilitate the disestablishment of an existing municipality and the establishment of a new municipality. The MEC must consult the existing municipality before publishing the notice.

On 14 March 2014 and on 26 June 2014 the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces respectively, published Notices in their Provincial Gazettes to deal with transitional arrangements leading up to the disestablishment and the establishment of municipalities. These transitional measures provide for, amongst others, the establishment of a committee to facilitate the disestablishment of a municipality and its inclusion into an existing municipality.

As part of its overall preparations for the 2016 municipal elections, the Department of Cooperative Governance will support the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces during this process of merging and/or dissolution of municipalities.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/1232

QUESTION:

Mrs N Mthembu (ANC) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

What steps has his department taken to collect revenue that is due to municipalities across the country? NO1487E

REPLY:

The Department does not collect any revenue that is due to municipalities. In terms of Section 96 of the Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000, a municipality must collect all money that is due and payable to it and for that purpose, must adopt, maintain and implement a credit control and debt collection policy which is consistent with its rates and tariff policies.

Further, in terms of section 18(1)(a) of Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (Act No. 56 of 2003)(MFMA), the annual budget of a municipality may only be funded from realistically anticipated revenues to be collected by the municipality. During the preparation phase of the budget, the Treasuries engage municipalities through the benchmark sessions to determine the reliability of revenue assumptions as well as to check if the budgets are funded or not, and further guidance and advice regarding revenue management is provided. However, we are engaged in several processes to understand challenges facing municipalities in the optimal collection of revenue and devise supportive programs to enhance revenue collections.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION 2014/1231

Mrs N. Mthembu (ANC) to ask the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

What (a) amount is owed by local governments for water and (b) steps has his department taken to correct this challenge? NO1486E

Reply:

(a) The amounts owed by municipalities to Water Boards as at June 2014 is R2 billion. This information is based on the section 41 reports submitted to National Treasury by Water Boards.

(b) The department works with provinces and Department of Water and Sanitation to support water boards in the collection of arrears owed to them. Provinces facilitate agreements on payment plans from all municipalities having arrear accounts. These plans are approved by municipal Councils who are held accountable to honour them. Payment plans are implemented within a period agreed to between the water board and the municipality; this period is usually within 12 months.

DCOG is working jointly with Treasuries also in engaging municipalities that had arrears on their accounts based on section 41 reports from Water Boards. In addition, municipalities are advised to review their operations, budgeting and tariffs, to ensure sustainable solutions including the preparation of financial recovery plans, where required.

A table below contains amounts owed by municipalities to Water Boards as at June 2014

Reply received: October 2014

QUESTION NUMBER: 1229
1229. Mr E M Mthethwa (ANC) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

What is his Department of Traditional Affairs doing to facilitate economic development and sustainable livelihoods? NW1484E

REPLY:

The Department of Traditional Affairs (DTA)'s mandate includes transforming and supporting Traditional Leaders to take active role in service delivery and community development. In terms of Section 4 and 20 of the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act, No 41 of 2003, stipulates the role of Traditional Leaders at Local Communities.

In addition, one of the aims of the National Development Plan (NDP) is to 'eliminate poverty and reduce inequality', which can be done by amongst others; 'growing an inclusive economy', 'building capabilities' and 'promoting leadership and partnerships throughout society'. The DTA developed a Partnership Framework to guide the development of cooperative relationships aimed at the development of traditional communities.

The DTA is in the process of engaging government Departments to facilitate economic development in Traditional Communities to contribute towards the sustainable livelihoods.

Reply received: September 2014

QUESTION NUMBER: 1228

1228. Mr N A Masondo (ANC) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Following the Nhlapo Commission Report, what is being done to settle all the outstanding disputes on who the genuine traditional leaders should be? NW1481E

REPLY:

The Nhlapo Commission's term of office expired in 2010. In January 2011, a new Commission known as the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims (CTLDC) was established to continue to investigate one thousand and two hundred and fourty four (1244) outstanding traditional leadership disputes and claims which were not finalized by the Nhlapo Commission. To date, the Commission has processed seven hundred (710) claims and disputes.

The following table provides a breakdown of the 710 finalised disputes and claims per province:

Commission & Provincial Commission	2010 -2011	2011 – 2012	2012 – 2013	2013 - 2014	2014 – 2015 (Quarter I)	Total
National (Kingship)	6	115	16	38	4	179
Eastern Cape			44	16	13	73
KwaZulu- Natal			60	55	38	153
Limpopo			0	74	30	104
Mpumalanga		21	55	61	12	149
North West			16	30	6	52
Total	6	136	191	274	103	710

In 2014/15, three hundred and twenty (320) disputes and claims will be processed. The remaining two hundred and fourteen (214) disputes and claims will be processed in the 2015/16 financial year.

Reply received: September 2014

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO 2014/1205

QUESTION

Mr K J Mileham (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

(1) With regard to the provision of services to the 23 municipalities with the greatest number of backlogs referred to in President Jacob G Zuma's State of the Nation Address on 13 February 2014, (a) which municipalities has been identified as such and (b) what criteria was used to determine that these municipalities were the ones with the greatest number of backlogs;

(2) for each municipality, what (a) was the backlog as at 13 February 2014, (b) has been done to assist these municipalities and (c) is the current backlog? NW1443E

REPLY

(1)(a) President Jacob G Zuma identified the following 23 municipalities with the greatest number of backlogs. These priority 23 municipalities are district municipalities and include their local municipalities. They are: see the link http://www.pmg.org.za/rnw1205-140911easterncape

1(b) The District Municipalities identified were the districts with the highest level of backlogs in South Africa as determined by Census 2011 results, especially in the areas of water and sanitation.

2(a) The non-financial information per municipality, that includes the status on their backlogs, was determined in June 2013. Statistical Services has indicated that the results of this non-financial census will only be made public during September 2014.

However, according to the Census 2011, the number of poor households (less that R2 300 per month income) per the 23 priority District Municipalities are:

Name of District Municipality	Total households	No of households

2014-03-03

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