KZN COGTA issues stern warning to poortly performing municipalities
The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) has warned all poorly performing municipalities in the province of harsh consequences for non-compliance with the legislative prescripts that govern the financial health of all local governance institutions because non-compliance with laws such the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA) leads to poor audit outcomes. The department’s warning came today during a meeting between KZN MEC for Cogta Nomusa Dube-Ncube and the mayors and key officials from the non-performing municipalities.
“Even as KZN beat all expectations in the 2013/2014 financial year with 20 clean audits for municipalities and municipal entities, there are still municipalities that received disclaimers and qualified audit opinions. They are the target of our most recent appeal for performance and compliance,” said Dube-Ncube who referred to the findings of the KZN Auditor-General and the oversight reports of KZN Cogta’s municipal finance business unit.
A total of three municipalities received disclaimers in the province in the 2013/2014 reporting cycle, namely Amajuba district and Jozini, both of which regressed from unqualified opinion to a disclaimer, and Hlabisa which regressed from a qualified opinion to a disclaimer. This seems to be a moving target with a different set of municipalities regressing into this category each year.
During the same cycle, KZN also recorded eight qualified audit opinions comprising of 6 municipalities and 2 municipal entities namely, Umkhanyakude district, Uthukela district, Ugu district, Vulamehlo, Newcastle, Mooi Mpofana and Umhlosinga Development Agency under Umkhanyakude district as well as Hibiscus Coast Development Agency under Harry Gwala district.
“Even as we accept that some municipalities battle with structural challenges, we maintain that their managers have no excuse not to be responsive and take their work seriously. Councils have no excuse not to ensure that they take sound decisions on critical issues of key positions in senior management and the appointment of appropriately skilled staff,” said Dube-Ncube.
In the context of the Back to Basics programme which seeks to put all of the province’s municipalities on a sound footing, the KZN Cogta now requires that municipalities recognise and reward good performance and impose harsh consequences for under-performance and non-performance in administration. Wherever municipalities fail to account for and prudently manage their resources, the department demands to know what is being done to rectify this.
For more information contact:
Lennox Mabaso
Cell: 082 884 2403
