Parliament, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 – The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) today received briefings on quarterly performance reports from the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG); Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA); and the Department of Traditional Affairs.
The Chairperson of the CoGTA committee said “this year’s Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR) process is unusual in that it comes before the tabling of Annual Reports. The tabling of Annual Reports to Parliament normally takes place towards the end of September, in advance of the BRRR process in October. The delays arising from the declaration of the National State of Disaster due to the Covid-19 pandemic required an extension of the Annual Report tabling deadline to 16 November 2020.
As a result, the Auditor-General’s Office is still busy with the audit process in respect of the 2019/20 Annual Financial Statements. The committee has not been briefed by the Office of the AG on the CoGTA Portfolio’s 2019/20 audit outcomes. However, the Money Bills Amendment Procedures and Related Matters Act still requires the committee to process the Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report before the tabling of the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement, which is on schedule for 28 October 2020”.
The committee made its recommendations based on the departments’ quarterly performance information up to 31 March 2020. Although this is unaudited information, it is still credible to the extent that the National Treasury has verified it. The committee plans to consider the Annual Reports when they become available in November, and should there be new matters arising, the Act allows the committee the discretion to prepare a supplementary BRR Report.
The committee thanked the department for availing its Quarterly Performance Reports. The committee noted MISA’s final audit report, which indicates a clean audit for the second consecutive year, and congratulated the MISA team on a job well done. However, this was a cautious commendation, as the AG did not audit the Infrastructure Delivery Management Support Programme due to a reduction in the audit scope in view of the Covid-19 restrictions. The committee also noted that the AG’s management report to MISA has raised some concerns. The Technical Support Services Programme also failed to achieve all the targets set.
All the programmes of the DCOG have spent 100% of their allocated budget as at 31 March 2020. The exception is the Institutional Development Programme, which recorded under-expenditure amounting to R3.3 billion in respect of the Local Government Equitable Share. While Programme 2 (the Regional and Urban Development and Legislative Support Programme) and Programme 6 (Community Work Programme) spent 100% of their allocated budgets, they did not achieve 100% of the targets set.
The committee questioned the department on the reasons for the non-payment of some of the CWP beneficiaries, and wanted details on the progress of the investigations following the five forensic reports.
One of the areas of under-performance relates to the revision of the CWP model. The committee will meet with the department on 27 November 2020 to receive the revised CWP model and progress reports on the investigations of the five forensic reports.
The committee during its recent oversight visit to KwaZulu-Natal observed that 61 out of 110 wards in eThekwini Metro Municipality do not have functional ward committees, and therefore requires the department to report on its interventions to facilitate the full functioning of ward committees as this issue is prevalent throughout the country.
During the committee’s oversight engagements with traditional leaders, the issue of land ownership arose. Although the section 25 matter is in progress and the DTA is not responsible for land allocation, the department must be active and visible in facilitating engagements with the responsible structures to ensure that the concerns of traditional leaders are heard, said the Chairperson of the committee, Ms Faith Muthambi.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS, MS FAITH MUTHAMBI.
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