ATC121004: Report of the Select Committee on Appropriations on the Progress of Twelve Eastern Cape Municipalities visited by the Committee on 27-29 July 2010, dated 19 September 2012
Standing Committee on Appropriations
REPORT OF
THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS ON THE PROGRESS OF TWELVE
EASTERN CAPE
MUNICIPALITIES VISITED BY THE COMMITTEE ON 27-29
JULY 2010, DATED 19 SEPTEMBER 2012
1.
Introduction
The Select Committee on
Appropriations (the Committee) had requested the Eastern Cape Department of Local
Government and Traditional Affairs (EC-LGTA) to present a progress report on the
following 12 municipalities visited by the Committee from 27-29 July 2010:
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The meeting took place on 6 June
2012, at Parliament in
In its July 2010 report, the
Committee had made certain findings and recommendations on the twelve
municipalities. It was against this background that the Committee requested the
EC-LGTA to report on progress in the implementation of the Committee
recommendations.
2. Report
by Eastern Cape Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs
(EC-LGTA)
The report by the EC-LGTA outlined
progress made towards the implementation of the Committees findings and
recommendations on the 12 municipalities visited in July 2010.
With regard to the Integrated
Developmental Plans (
IDPs
) the EC-LGTA reported that,
during the April 2012 IDP assessment, all 12 municipalities
IDPs
had been found to be aligned with the Provincial
Growth Development Strategy. Guidance had been provided by the EC-LGTA on the
importance of developing Spatial Development Frameworks with demographics. The
EC-LGTA reported that it had worked together with the Office of the Premier to
organise two district-wide IDP engagements. Moreover, the Outcomes Based
Approach had been introduced to align national, provincial and local
priorities.
The EC-LGTA further reported that
all Mayors, Speakers, Chief Whips and Section 56 Managers of the 12 municipalities
had been empowered with regard to leadership and financial control measures. EC-LGTA
submitted that processes were underway to workshop the 12 municipalities on
credit control -, debt collection -, tariff -, revenue management -, and asset
management policies and some corresponding by-laws.
With regard to the establishment of
Budget and Treasury Offices (
BTOs
), the EC-LGTA reported
that all municipalities had established
BTOs
with
qualified personnel. However, three municipalities (
Mbashe
,
Engcobo
, and
The EC-LGTA reported that all 12 municipalities
had audit committees, whether their own audit committee, or a shared service. Those
that were reported to be utilising shared services were
With respect to the submission of Annual
Financial Statements (AFS) and Audit Outcomes in the 2010/11 financial year,
the EC-LGTA reported that 11 of the 12 municipalities had submitted their
Annual Financial Statements on or before 31 August 2011 and only
With regard to intergovernmental
relations, the EC-LGTA reported that technical and political provincial interactions
between municipalities and Members of the Executive Council (
MuniMEC
) were fully functional and attendance by
municipalities, national, and provincial departments as well as other relevant
stakeholders was exceptional. The EC-LGTA explained that strategic agenda
issues that were discussed at these sessions were mostly informed by inputs
from District Mayor Forums (
DIMAFOs
) and other
stakeholders, while resolutions were implemented and progress reported
accordingly to the
MuniMEC
. The EC-LGTA added that
there was cross-pollination on service delivery, as issues emanating from
DIMAFOs
were escalated to
MuniMECs
and further to the Premiers Coordinating Forum, and vice versa.
The EC-LGTA further reported that an
Intergovernmental Relations Provincial Strategy (IGRPS) as well as a handbook, meant
to address IGR challenges, had been developed to make IGR more practical within
the provincial and local government spheres. The EC-LGTA added that the King
Sabata
Dalindyebo
Presidential
Intervention, which they had championed and driven, had adopted a
whole-of-government-approach and was proving to be a best practice for IGR in
action.
The table below indicates the
financial support provided to the 12 municipalities by EC-LGTA in the 2010/11
financial year:
Municipality
|
Amount (R000)
|
Purpose of transfer
|
Joe
Gqabi
LM
|
350
|
Appointment
of a Local Economic Development (LED) expert to supplement capacity
|
Maletswai
LM
|
53
350
|
Appointment
of an LED expert to supplement capacity
Support
for local government elections
|
Chris
Hani
DM
|
671
|
Appointment
of an LED expert to supplement capacity
|
Emalahleni
LM
|
1200
|
Support
for local government elections
|
Engcobo
LM
|
53
110
1200
345
445
|
Appointment
of an LED expert to supplement capacity
To
compile socio-economic profile for revitalisation of 2
nd
economy
Support
for local government elections
To
revise existing Spatial Development Framework
Integrated
Development Plan (IDP)
|
Inkwanca
LM
|
53
100
150
280
|
Appointment
of an LED expert to supplement capacity
Support
for local government elections
To
support land use valuations
To revise
existing Spatial Development Framework
|
Mbashe
LM
|
65
53
110
700
1000
2000
|
To assist
in paying salary difference to a seconded official of the EC-LGTA acting as
Municipal Manager.
Appointment
of an LED expert to supplement capacity
Revitalisation
of 2
nd
economy
Financial
Management
Strengthening
administrative capacity
Support
for local government elections
|
Nkonkobe
LM
|
53
800
345
445
|
Appointment
of an LED expert to supplement capacity
Support
for local government elections
To
revise existing Spatial Development Framework
Support
to develop IDP
|
Nxuba
LM
|
53
250
|
Appointment
of an LED expert to supplement capacity
Support
for local government elections
|
Ngqushwa
LM
|
350
110
900
|
Appointment
of an LED expert to supplement capacity
Revitalisation
of the 2
nd
economy
Assist
in local government elections
|
Ingquza
Hill LM
|
100
1050
445
|
Federation
Of International Football (FIFA) World Cup Event
Assisted
in local government elections
To
support the development of IDP
|
Makana
LM
|
100
150
|
Federation
Of International Football (FIFA) World Cup Event
Assisted
with local government elections
|
The EC-LGTA further reported that in
the 2011/12 financial year they had supported four municipalities (
Emalahleni
LM - R67 175, Chris
Hani
DM - R380 000,
Maletswai
LM - R67 180, and Joe
Gqabi
DM - R371 245) with funds to appoint Local Economic Development
(LED) experts to supplement capacity. Another three municipalities (
Mbashe
LM - R116 677 for a feasibility study;
Ngqushwa
LM - R116 677 for a master plan; and
Engcobo
LM - R116 667 for a feasibility study for a taxi
rank) had been provided with financial support to undertake feasibility studies
and develop a master plan. A further R5.8 million had been utilised to build
five fire stations in five municipalities. The Chris
Hani
DM had been given R861 825 for operational costs to promote effective disaster
management systems. Two instalments of R1.5 million and R1 million had been paid
to Eskom in January and March 2011, respectively, on behalf of
Nxuba
LM. The
Nxuba
LM had no
funds to pay Eskom, who had threatened to cut the electricity supply if not
paid.
The EC-LGTA reported that due to
its support to the 12 municipalities, R51.6 million had been paid to them by
government departments as at the end of March 2012.
Other support provided to district
municipalities (Joe
Gqabi
and Chris
Hani
) had been technical training on storm-water drainage for
33 officials and the secondment of senior officials to four municipalities (acting
Municipal Managers at
Mbashe
,
Ngqushwa
,
and
Nxuba
LMs
and an acting
CFO at
Makana
LM). The EC-LGTA had assisted all 12
municipalities to establish Municipal Public Accounts Committees (
MPACs
).
2.1
Progress report per municipality
In response to the Committee
recommendations per municipality, the EC-LGTA reported the following:
2.1.1
The EC-LGTA reported
that, since the Committees visit, the
The EC-LGTA further
reported that it was utilising the
MuniMEC
meetings
to address service delivery bottlenecks and to accelerate the programme of
eradication of housing backlogs. To achieve this, the department would engage
with the Department of Human Settlements.
The
municipality had improved in the provision of Free Basic Services (FSB) to the
poor.
The EC-LGTA reported that an
indigent policy and an updated indigent register were in place and there was a
dedicated FBS coordinator to monitor the implementation of free basic services.
Because of that,
4 132
indigent
households had access to free basic electricity;
100
indigent households were provided with free basic alternative
energy in the form of a gel;
5 609
indigent households had access to free basic refuse removal;
4 470
indigent households had access
to free basic water; and
5 169
indigent households had access to free basic sanitation.
2.1.2
The EC-LGTA reported
that the
2.1.3
The EC-LGTA reported
that
2.1.4
With respect to the
2.1.5
According to
the EC-LGTA,
2.1.6
With regard
to the high percentage of personnel costs at
2.1.7
With respect
to
2.1.8
The EC-LGTA reported
that the
2.1.9
With respect to the
2.1.10
The EC-LGTA reported
that the problem that had existed, where farmers in
2.1.11
With respect
to the investment of R150 million by the Chris
Hani
District
Municipality, the EC-LGTA reported that it had been a short term investment,
based on the cash flow and taking into account the time when the money would be
paid out for projects implemented. The investment had not been meant to impact
negatively on service delivery. The EC-LGTA reported that the municipality had
since completed the unbundling of assets in order to comply with GRAP.
Moreover, EC-LGTA reported that it was rendering support through Operation
Clean Audit (OAC) to improve the audit outcome of the municipality.
2.1.12
The EC-LGTA reported
that
3. Observations
After interacting with the
provincial Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs of the
3.1 The
3.2 The
Committee noted the political and technical
MuniMEC
model
that the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs had rolled out
in the
4. Recommendations
Having considered the submissions by
Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs of the
4.1 All
provinces should consider adopting the
MuniMEC
model
that the
4.2 The
Report to be
considered.
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