report before the joint committees in Parliament
17 October 2006
The Portfolio Committee on Provincial and Local Government and the Select
Committee on Local Government and Administration jointly welcomed the annual
report of the Department of Provincial and Local Government (the dplg) that was
presented before the two committees today.
The report accounting for the 2005/06 financial year was presented by the
Acting Director-General, Elroy Africa, accompanied by the Department's Deputy
Directors-General.
In welcoming the report, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Lesecha
Tsenoli said, "it was particularly pleasing that the Auditor-General had given
the Department an unqualified audit opinion."
Tsenoli said that the committee was satisfied with the report as it
objectively portrayed the Department's good performance over the past financial
year.
"The dplg can only improve on this and build on the successes achieved," he
added.
Before these comments the members of both committees engaged the report,
indicating the need to move swiftly on plans to address challenges highlighted
by the report.
These challenges include the under expenditure by municipalities as well as
the filling of vacant positions in the Department.
In its financial performance the Department transferred R9,6 billion
directly to municipalities as equitable share for basic services. It also
transferred R200 million as a conditional grant for municipal systems
improvement and a further R342 million for disaster relief.
The report highlighted improvements in service delivery and
intergovernmental relations as a direct result of interventions through Project
Consolidate and government izimbizo programmes such as the Presidential and
Ministerial Izimbizo.
In ensuring that this success is sustained, the Department through Project
Consolidate has deployed 120 experts to support 40 municipalities by the end of
March 2006.
The priorities of the Department over the next five years as driven by the
Five Year Strategic Agenda are:
1. mainstreaming hands-on support to local government to improve municipal
governance, performance and accountability
2. addressing the structure and governance arrangements of the State in order
to better strengthen, support and monitor local government
3. refining and strengthening the policy, regulatory and fiscal environment for
local government and giving greater attention to enforcement measures.
For more information, please contact:
Luzuko Koti
Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: (012) 334 0699
Cell: 083 391 0073
Issued by: Department of Provincial and Local Government
17 October 2006
