KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu has warned councillors of Umtubatuba Local Municipality that the provincial government will not hesitate to take further steps should they fail to strengthen service delivery. He was speaking today during a report back meeting which was attended by stakeholders including ordinary community members.
In September 2012, the Provincial Executive resolved to place the municipality of uMtubatuba under administration in terms of section 139 (1)(b) of the Constitution. The decision was informed by the precarious situation in respect of finances and governance which compromised service delivery in this municipality.
We will do everything in our power to get rid of the decay which has the potential to destroy this municipality. We want to warn councilors that we will never allow this decay to destroy confidence that people have in this democratic government.
We will be closely monitoring this municipality over the next six months and we will act swiftly if there is no progress. We will do this in the interest of ordinary community members who must taste the fruits of democracy.
We want to remind councilors that there is a pledge of loyalty they committed themselves to when they assumed office. You committed yourselves to putting all the resources at your disposal to better the lives of our people.
You must uphold the principles of the Constitution of the Republic and be mindful of the fact that any deviation from the powers vested in you by the constitution we will be tantamount to betraying the very source of our struggle for a free and democratic South Africa.
When we inaugurated this government on the 26th May 2014, we committed ourselves to building the economy and ensuring job creation. We undertook to work towards strengthening the provision of service delivery.
As guided by the Provincial Growth and Development Plan, we have focused on supporting municipalities in developing Integrated Development Plans and in driving Local Economic Development to ensure that the identified sectors create job opportunities for the local communities. Clearly, the problems that have besieged Umtubatuba Municipality will make it extremely difficult to create jobs for the local community.
I have always stated that municipalities have to be proactive to take advantage of national and provincial government programmes in promoting certain sectors of the economy such as agriculture, tourism, Information Communication Technology and many others including the infrastructure revolution which is currently underway.
The provincial government is working with municipalities to build social infrastructure such as community amenities, schools, clinics and new hospitals. There are other programmes such as the Extended Public Works Programmes which are undertaken by various government departments.
We say education and skills development has to be accelerated as the only true basis for empowerment of all communities. Education remains one of the top priorities of government. While local government does not have direct responsibility over the schools, many services will require support of local representatives.
The creation of an environment conducive to learning and teaching, fighting crime and ensuring peace and stability may be boosted by diligent councilors acting as a true representative of the community. Motivating the youth to participate in skills development programmes requires a focus of local representatives.
We are here to call upon councilors of this municipality to lead by example. Umtubatuba municipality must work towards the acceleration of programs to ensure that tourism and agriculture becomes catalysts for development.
We require municipalities that focus on such programs as to utilise the available resources for the benefit of communities, with the support of the provincial department that has concurrent responsibility of the creation of jobs for the local community.
Our commitment remains that of ensuring access to schools, clinics, and good roads for daily transport to work and access to economic centers as the basic necessity to create a better life for all citizens.
Mayors and councilors must play a role in ensuring that they assist community access to health facilities, clinics and hospitals. They need to mobilise community participation in the structures of governance such as hospital boards and clinic committees.
They should also participate in grass roots programmes to ensure access to quality services and the fight against serious diseases such HIV and AIDS, TB, diseases of lifestyles, cancers etc. This is part of the integrated approach to governance that is being promoted by national and provincial governments.
One issue our intervention sought to address was the ill-discipline among some of the senior officials in this municipality. There can be no excuse for mismanagement of public funds - and I am confident that you will agree with me - whether this occurs as a result of ill intent or a lack of requisite skills. The lack of capacity and skills is often just an excuse of poor service delivery.
It is pleasing to note that our intervention is yielding positive spin-offs because service delivery is now surely getting back on track in the uMtubatuba local municipality.
Since the intervention the municipality has moved from a disclaimer audit opinion for the 2011/12 financial year to a qualification in the 2012/13 financial year. There has been improvement in project implementation with the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) expenditure at 70% at mid-year in 2013/14.
Operating deficit has been reduced from R27 million to R8 million. The municipality managed to clear a bank overdraft of R6 million in June 2013. Collection has increased from R900 000 a month to an average of R1.3 million to R1.6 million a month. Infrastructure implementation programme has managed to complete all MIG projects implemented in the 2012/13 and 2013/14 financial years.
While the progress is appreciated, we still remain concerned about the remnants of ill-discipline that we still experience in this municipality. In recent times we have learnt of squabbles, wildcat strikes and the filthiness of the town.
This has sparked outraged even within the business community. We are here to make a call that the time has come for all of us to get the basics right in this municipality.
Enquiries:
Ndabezinhle Sibiya
Cell: 082 3754742
