The Gauteng government is committed to fiscal discipline and prudent financial management in all spheres of government in the province. This was revealed at the Gauteng Municipal Finance Indaba hosted by the departments of Finance and Local Government and Housing held today at Mogale City.
The Indaba is a key platform to engage municipalities and to ensure that there is political oversight in financial management by addressing current challenges and providing assistance to build financially sound and viable municipalities.
Today's Indaba focused on the upcoming 2011 local government elections and their implication on the Integrated Development Plans (IDP) and budget process for 2011/12. Another major area of discussion was improving government's funding sources as well as the importance of monitoring and managing performance of municipal budgets in line with the government budget and reporting regulations. The purpose of these efforts is to improve planning and resource management at local government.
Amongst the key recommendations tabled were:
- The need for greater support by the national and provincial treasuries in the collection and enhancement of revenue by local government.
- Strengthening of planning and project management capacity in the implementation of capital projects.
- Greater political leadership and oversight over budget implementation.
- Enforcement of internal controls and addressing weaknesses in supply chain management, particularly around capital expenditure.
- Prioritising infrastructure maintenance and development to deal with aging and dilapidated infrastructure in the province.
- Strengthening internal control mechanisms to monitor timely (30 days) payments to suppliers.
- Stringent management of monthly cash flow through expediting the process of transferring grants due to municipalities and ring-fencing infrastructure and maintenance budgets
"We are already starting to reap the benefits of a coordinated and inclusive approach. Working together with our partners - the Auditor-General, South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), we have also been able to provide support to municipalities in the preparation for the Performance Audit in 2010/11 and beyond, thereby hopefully ensuring less averse audit outcomes as we move towards our target of Clean Audits in 2014," said MEC for Finance Mandla Nkomfe.
Enquiries:
Khusela Sangoni
Cell: 079 510 5408
E-mail: gsscmedia@gauteng.gov.za
