Parliament, Monday, 25 October 2019 – Gauteng's permanent delegates to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will over the next week, as part of the NCOP’s flagship oversight programme of Provincial Week, visit municipalities within the Gauteng that have faced persistent negative audit outcomes and are under Section 139 intervention to find workable solutions to these on-going challenges at local government level.
The solutions that are sought will focus on discussions around issues such as financial management, usage of consultants, financial recovery plans, professionalisation of the local sphere of government, and building capacity within the local sphere of government to enable it to carry out its constitutional mandate. “The discussions we had during the Local Government Week emphasised the long-held view of a need to entrench support to local government as per Section 154 of the Constitution. This programme allows permanent delegates of the NCOP to assess this support with the aim of ensuring functional municipalities that deliver quality services to the people,” said Ambassador Mohammed Dangor, the Gauteng Provincial Whip.
This year’s Provincial Week programme is themed; “Ensuring Capable and Financially Sound Municipalities” and the Gauteng delegation will focus its visit on Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and Emfuleni Local Municipality.
Also, the delegation will on Thursday, 29 October 2020, interact with the Minister of Transport to get an overview of the state of the public transport system, specifically rail transport, in Gauteng. “A majority of the poor relies heavily on trains to access areas of economic activity as well as schools. Late trains and the continuous vandalism of rail infrastructure has exacerbated an already stretched system, which has a direct impact on the livelihoods of our people. We need to find solutions to these challenges,” Ambassador Dangor emphasised. The delegation will visit the Katlehong Railway station, Kliptown Railway Station and the Maraisburg Railway Station.
To adhere to restrictions imposed by the state of national disaster level 1 declaration, the week-long programme will be hybrid, with some of the interactions taking place on a virtual setting, while contact sessions will be reserved for site visits.
Link to the Gauteng Programme: https://tinyurl.com/yy2d8g6q
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ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE GAUTENG PROVINCIAL WHIP, AMBASSADOR MOHAMMED DANGOR
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