Provincial Speakers' Forum to formulate a policy on separation of powers in Municipalities

On Thursday, 20 September 2012, the North West Provincial Speakers’ Forum has
established a task team that will formulate a policy document on separation of powers in municipalities during a meeting held at Royal Marang Hotel in Phokeng.

Other issues discussed at the meeting were, the poor level of public participation in
some municipalities which affects oversight role of speakers, committees that were
established under the municipalities institutional arrangements, speakers’ role in the
processes of enacting by-laws, grading levels for the municipalities, and proposals to review relevant legislation were suggested in line with Section 6 of the Constitution, whereby the Mayor’s budget is separated from the Speaker’s budget in the municipalities, so as to ensure effective oversight.

The Forum is an initiative of the Legislature, championed by the Speaker, Hon Supra Mahumapelo, and it is aimed at increasing public participation, oversight and law, making in the North West Province.

Speaking to the issue of grading levels of municipalities, the Speaker of Matlosana Local Municipality, Cllr. Lebenya Kortjas mentioned the serious need to increase the grade for Matlosana Local Municipality to grade 5, as this affects the level of service delivery in their area.

“We cannot expect to be treated as if our number of population has been the same since 2007, our municipality has been growing rapidly and we are now failing to deliver good service to our communities because of limited resources,” said Cllr. Kortjas.

Hon. Mahumapelo alluded to the speakers that the issue of grading has been presented to the Minister of Local Government, who advised that a comprehensive submission made by all municipalities affected by this should be handed to him as this would serve as part of the ongoing policy formulation currently discussed with the ruling party. The Minister had also suggested that a meeting be convened with all stakeholders to correct this issue.

A task team was formulated by the speakers to ensure that a policy is drafted that
would define the separation of powers. This policy would look into issues such as the responsibilities of Chief Whips in municipalities which is not clear in most
municipalities; the role of speakers in enacting by-laws in municipalities; the possibility of all portfolios committees being Section 79 committees located in the Office of the Speaker; the role of speakers in audit committees; and the task team must also consider exploring interventions in curbing the issue of district municipalities adopting Integrated Development Plans without considering inputs from the local municipality.

Members of the task team are as follows; Cllr. Medupe from Kgetleng River Local
Municipality, Cllr Mbulelo Zephe from Dr Kenneth Kaunda, Cllr Ramashilabela from
Ngaka Modiri Molema district, Cllr Schalk from Dr Ruth Mompati, Cllr Motswana from
Mamusa Local Municipality, and Legislature legal advisor Mr. Matli. The Deputy Speaker of the Legislature, Hon. Philemon Mapulane said the policy should clearly state issues that would inform the executive office and the Speaker’s office.

“The policy document should be extensive on issues it would present on, the final
document should be available by the next year February of March 2013 which will be presented at the Speaker’s forum and adopted,” urged Hon. Mapulane
Closing the meeting, Hon. Mahumapelo also added that the fact that he met with
research institutions and university professors to ask for assistance in the oversight work.

"The discussions we had with research institutions and universities will definitely
assist us and be an advantage for local municipalities and its challenges, they are willing to provide us with students who will assist with technical expertise in ensuring that we provide effective oversight,” said Hon. Mahumapelo.

The next forum meeting will convene in November.

Enquiries:
Namhla Luhabe
Cell: 079 527 0628
E-mail: namhla@nwpl.org.za