The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is satisfied with the manner in which Minister Pravin Gordhan intends to improve the performance of municipalities and their entities.
Committee Chairperson Mr Richard Mdakane says they are pleased that Minister Gordhan has undertaken to, among other interventions, impose severe penalties on poor performing municipalities. According to Mr Mdakane, Minister Gordhan also told the Committee last month about his plans to ensure municipalities went back to implementing the basic responsibilities of local government.
“It is pleasing to see that the Minister has undertaken to improve the local government by introducing measures that will see notable improvement in the performance of our municipalities. Poor performance by some municipalities can no longer be tolerated as they are a sphere of government responsible for expanding access to basic services to all our people and for the advancement of our communities,” said Mr Mdakane.
The Committee said this after a concerning performance by some of the country’s municipalities. Yesterday, Auditor-General Mr Kimi Makwetu tabled the 2012-13 local government audit outcomes. While the Committee was impressed by improvements made by the 15 municipalities and two municipal entities who have improved their previous year’s audit outcomes by progressing to clean audit, the Committee wanted this performance replicated by all municipalities.
“We are therefore hopeful that come 2013/14 financial year and years to follow, South Africans will start seeing an improvement in the manner municipalities conduct its affairs and handling of financial management affairs”.
Mr Mdakane said his Committee would monitor the plans by the Minister, their implementation, and the adherence of municipalities to these measures. He added that Parliament would not only monitor, but also use its powers to support the Minister and municipalities to achieve better results in future.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson Mr Richard Mdakane, please contact:
Temba Gubula
Parliamentary Communication Services
Cell: 078 735 8809
Tel: 021 403 8307
E-mail: tgubula@parliament.gov.za
