On 19 January 2013 the Legislature together with the Association of Public Accounts Committees (APAC) convened an Imbizo for Municipal Public Accounts Committees (MPACs) at the Elangeni Hotel in Durban.
The Speaker Hon. N P Nkonyeni opened the Imbizo and in attendance were the Chairperson of APAC Hon. Fish Mahalela, the Chairperson of Scopa Hon. S C Nkosi and other members of Scopa. All 10 of the District Municipalities, the eThekwini Metro and 42 out of 50 local municipalities were represented at the Imbizo by the chairpersons and members of the MPACs in the municipalities. The Department of COGTA and the Office of the Auditor General were also present.
The main purpose of the Imbizo was to establish the Provincial Public Accounts Committees Forum. There were also items on the programme regarding evaluation of the state of MPACs in the province, evaluation of the training that had been provided for MPACs by COGTA, the support and resources which were provided for MPACs generally. APAC also presented their Good Practices Guide for MPACs which was submitted for comment by the individual municipalities.
Regarding the Forum, the Imbizo resolved:
That the KwaZulu-Natal Forum of Public Accounts Committees be established consisting of all members of the KZN Legislature SCOPA, all Chairpersons of the District MPACs and the MPAC at eThekwini Metro, as well as the support staff at these two levels.
That the provincial forum be convened by the Chairperson of the KZN Legislature SCOPA, Hon. S C Nkosi.
That the KwaZulu-Natal Forum of Public Accounts Committees be established consisting of all members of the KZN Legislature SCOPA, all Chairpersons of the District MPACs and the MPAC at eThekwini Metro, as well as the support staff at these two levels. That all District Municipalities (excluding eThekwini Metro as it has no local municipalities) establish District Forums consisting of all District MPAC members and Chairpersons of MPACs from constituent local municipalities as well as the district and local support staff.
That the District Forums be convened by the District MPAC Chairpersons.
It was also agreed that the duties and responsibilities of the Forums will be amongst many to exchange best practices in the area of oversight, to capacitate one another so as to do their work effectively and efficiently, to assist, support, inform and consult one another on matters of mutual interest, to coordinate their actions in ensuring that Clean Audits are achievable in 2014 and clean administration beyond 2014.
