Remarks by Deputy Minister Andries Nel - Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs at a meeting with Councillors and Senior Managers of Oudtshoorn Municipaltiy on National and Provincial intervention in Oudtshoorn Municipaltiy
Speake
Mayor
Councillors
MEC Bredell
Administrator - Mr Kam Chetty
National and provincial government are intervening in Oudtshoorn Municipaltiy because we are concerned about the state of governance, financial management and service delivery in the municipality.This concern is based on numerous interactions with residents, business people, farmers, workers, and councillors as well as assessments conducted by government departments.
We are intervening in terms of sections 139(1)(b) and 154 of the Constitution.
Mr Kamalasan ("Kam") Chetty has been appointed as the Administrator for a period of six (6) months to implement the intervention. He will lead a joint national-provincial intervention team comprising four officials: two with expertise in finance and legal services from the Western Cape Provincial Government and two from National Government to cover other relevant fields, including but not limited to human resource management and engineering services.
The Administrator will be vested with all the powers and functions reasonable necessary to ensure that the proper functioning of the Municipal Council of Oudtshoorn is restored. The Administrator will report on a monthly basis to both the national Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs as well as the provincial MEC for Local Government.
The intervention follows numerous attempts by national and provincial government to deal with ongoing challenges faced by the municipality with regard to: Political and administrative instability; Non-functional council structures; Irregular acting appointments in senior positions; Water pollution and refuse removal and general breakdown in delivery of services to communities; Irregular appointment of service providers and procurement processes; Poor communication with communities; Eskom debt and decline of the tourism industry.
We are concerned because they affect the lives of the residents of Oudtshoorn and because Oudtshoorn plays an important role in economy of the district and the Western Cape. Oudtshoorn also contributes to the national economy through tourism and agriculture. We cannot allow the current challenges faced by the municipality to undermine this.
As national and provincial government we have a constitutional duty to support local government to serve the people in line with its constitutional mandate. We also have a constitutional duty to intervene where this does not happen.
The intervention is in line with the Back to Basics approach adopted at the Presidential Local Government Summit in September 2014. Back to Basics seeks to ensure that municipalities put people first, delivery basic services, practice good governance and sound financial management and build strong institutions. Accordingly the intervention will focus on the following areas:
Put people first: The aim is to improve public participation, community outreach and stakeholder engagement in the affairs of the municipality. The Administrator will assist councillors to make ward committee’s vibrant forums for discussing development issues, and increase community outreach programmes, izimbizo and visible leadership on the ground. The capacity of the municipality to respond in a timely manner to complaints, petitions and enquiries. The Mayor will be supported to conduct regular sessions with community, business and labour, and engage the Chamber of Commerce on Spatial development, in particular support to the Tourism Sector – Cango Caves, and other critical economic sectors of Oudtshoorn.
Good governance: The aim is create the right relationships of accountability within the municipality, and ensure that there are mechanisms for oversight and reporting on performance. The system of Council committees will be reviewed, and support provided to the Mayoral Committee, MPAC and Chief Whips office in the exercise of their duties. The Speaker’s office will be supported to coordinate constituency work and ensure that Councillors report back to their constituencies. There will be an official forensic investigation into fraud and corruption and the municipality will be supported to act on all forensic reports and internal audit reports. The council will be supported to review all delegations and compliance with all statutory requirements for a functional council.
Infrastructure and services: The objective is to address critical community concerns relating to water pollution in the Olifants River, management of the Landfill sites, housing and infrastructure services, and will ensure both quick win improvements as well as building long term infrastructure management capacity. The team will provide support for infrastructure planning, procurement and contract management. This could include managing projects on behalf of the municipality if necessary.
Financial management: The aim is to get the municipal budget back into surplus, strengthen internal controls and transparency in the Budget and Treasury Office, and improve long term financial planning, financial recovery plan. Support will be provided to the Budget and Treasury office to recover outstanding debt, and build up financial reserves and address the debt owed to Eskom and other third parties. Furthermore, address the AG report in relation to the post audit action plan and asset management. An analysis of the budget will undertaking to ensure credibility and cash-backed budget is prepared for consideration by council.
Institutional development: The municipality will be supported to address critical challenges in the administration, such as the following: Review and approval of the Organogram, Review all appointment of temporary workers, Review all the acting positions, Verification of qualifications and compliance with minimum competency requirements, Change management process aligned to new vision and code of good governance, Performance management system, Review cases of misconduct, disciplinary cases and other pending HR cases.
These elements are contained in a Support and Good Governance Package in terms of section 154 of the Constitution that was formulated after an unannounced visit to Oudtshoorn Municipality by Minister Pravin Gordhan in February 2015.
This package enjoys the support of the overwhelming majority of Councillors, residents, business, tourism and agriculture sectors and has been adopted by the Oudtshoorn Municipality.
Our Constitution makes it very clear that South Africa is one united state. Government in this unitary state government is constituted as national, provincial and local spheres of government. These spheres are distinct, interrelated and interdependent. They are, however, not independent of each other. The three spheres of government must respect each other. However, it is the human dignity of the people of our country that deserves the greatest respect.
We belong to different parties but once we have been elected we have a duty to serve all the people, whether voted for us or not. As national and provincial government we are committed to the rule of law and to ensure that the will of the people as expressed in democratic elections is respected.
We have all been elected by the people of South Africa. We have been elected to represent and to serve. People have elected us to serve them. We have not elected people to serve us. We are not doing people a favor by serving them. This is what we were elected to do. We cannot allow any personal or sectional agendas or interests to stand in the way of progress.
Minister Gordhan and I express our appreciation to Premier Helen Zille and MEC Anton Bredell for the co-operative inter-governmental relationship that we have enjoyed with them in this matter.
National and provincial government calls upon all parties and the community to support the intervention and to work together to bring stability, good governance and service delivery for all residents in the municipality.
This intervention will not last forever. We trust that by working together the Municipality will soon be in a position where it can serve the people of Oudtshoorn in line with its constitutional mandate.
