municipalities to reclaim communities
12 July 2007
North West MEC for Developmental Local Government, Howard Yawa has called
upon municipalities to reclaim their communities. The MEC made the call at the
Local Government Budget Statement Policy Review Conference hosted by the South
African Local Government Association North West at Taung Tusk Hotel on
Thursday, 12 July 2007.
The objective of the conference was to reflect on financial challenges,
pressures and complexities within the local government sphere. It sought to
bring together fiscal elements of developmental local government and dealt with
funding the provision of municipal services. Addressing conference on Political
Oversight and Public Accountability, MEC Yawa said that municipalities that
keep in touch with their communities to ensure a partnership towards the local
government improvement plan can and would reclaim their rightful place within
their communities. He said that councillors that keep in touch with their
constituencies in order to give regular feedback and involve their
constituencies in Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) understand public
accountability. Councillors that involve their communities in IDP processes and
budget processes understand public accountability.
Referring to incompetence, he stressed those municipal officials who do not
meet deadlines for approval of budgets, Municipal Infrastructure Grants
applications, housing subsidy applications and reconciliations, annual reports,
financial statements but expect performance bonuses do not understand public
accountability. He further said that officials who do not embark on forward
planning processes to ensure that capital projects commence and are completed
on time and put in place early warning systems as part of project monitoring
and supervision but expect performance bonuses do not understand public
accountability as they do not realise that their performance agreements are
contracts to serve our communities in line with Batho Pele principles.
"Councillors who approve performance bonuses to non-performing officials are
equally not aware of their political oversight responsibility because if any of
these processes mentioned are not performed timeously, service delivery is
compromised," said Yawa.
The high profiled conference held under the theme "Maximising Financial
Management capacity for sustainable service delivery" was attended by among
others the MEC for Finance, executive mayors, mayors, councillors, officials
from national and provincial treasury and senior officials from provincial
departments and municipalities.
Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele
Tel: 018 387 2447
Fax: 018 387 2868
Mobile: 083 629 1987
E-mail: LKgwele@nwpg.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Developmental Local Government and Housing, North
West Provincial Government
12 July 2007
