North West Finance MEC Paul Sebegoe today announced that following recent signing of memorandum of understanding with the department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs, the two departments will work closely to assist struggling municipalities in the province to prudently manage their financial affairs in order to deliver quality services to communities.
MEC Sebegoe said that this collaborative effort was in response to an earlier call by the Premier Modise for the two departments to work together to find solutions to challenges experienced by municipalities.
He said an amount of R5 million has been set aside to focus on building capacity in the area of financial management and administration in municipalities. The allocated funds will be used for empowering municipalities to comply with both the Municipal Finance Management Act and Generally Recognised Accounting Practices (GRAP17).
“The challenge to improve financial situations in municipalities remains key in the agenda of the department and will find concrete expression in many of the key initiatives that the department will put into place with department of local government and traditional affairs.”
He said the two departments will continue to collaborate on various aspects of governance to ensure that municipalities carry out their constitutional mandates to the best of the public.
“We will assess the municipal council’s administrative capacity through the skills audit of its financial personnel in order to ensure that our interventions in terms of financial support and oversight functions directed to municipalities are output oriented and well-focused to create maximum impact,’ said Sebegoe.
Sebegoe is of the conviction that challenges facing provincial municipalities’ border mainly to politics of craft materialism which manifest mainly through patronage, factionalism and self-enrichment by others.
Sebegoe said the success of the plan is dependent on the appointment of relevant people in key positions to run business processes with due diligence
He added that the department has sourced financial and professional expertise from renowned and reputable corporate sector institutions to assist municipalities in financial management for purpose of good governance and administration.
Mr Sebegoe explained the plan as he tabled the R371m departmental budget vote and policy speech for budget vote for the current fiscal year in the North West Provincial Legislature. The speech was delivered under the aptly named theme: ‘towards effective utilisation of public resources for better service delivery”
Enquiries:
Kesalopa Gill
Tel: 018 388 3584
Cell: 079 5486 352
E-mail: kgill@nwpg.gov.za
