The North West department of Local Government has noted with interest how some municipalities in the province are unable to achieve 100 percent expenditure on most municipal conditional grants.
Led by the Head of Department Mr. Monnapula Motlogelwa, the department and other provincial and national sector departments such as the Human Settlements and Water Affairs together with senior management and representatives from various municipalities within the province recently converged in Rustenburg to determine expenditure patterns on conditional grants by municipalities and develop approaches on improving expenditure and accelerating service delivery.
Municipal conditional grants are funds transferred by either the National or Provincial administration to municipalities for a specific purpose that may not be used for any other project. They are given to municipalities to implement a registered and prioritized project.
“All municipalities which have not spent 60% of their allocation by the end of February 2013 must develop concrete and practical strategies to expedite expenditure to 100% by the end of June 2013. The plans should include realistic expenditure projections”, said Motlogelwa.
Furthermore, the convergence was also aimed at identifying pressure areas and adopting an integrated service delivery intervention plan and also to improve inter-governmental relations and stakeholder engagement in the delivery of services.
“District municipalities must fulfil their legislative mandate to provide support, capacitate and coordinate local municipalities, especially those with limited capacity. There is also a dire need to review powers and functions between districts and local municipalities, especially in relation to water services. This calls for an improved and strengthened coordination and integration between all three spheres of government”, Motlogelwa said.
The Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs has responsibility to monitor the implantation of these funds which amongst other include the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG), the Provincial Infrastructure Grant (PIG), the Municipal Systems Improvement grant and the Disaster Relief Funds.
For enquiries contact:
Dineo Lolokwane
Spokesperson
Cell: 072 542 8444
