Parliament, Thursday, 15 April 2021 – The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) yesterday received a briefing from the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) on its 2021/22 annual performance plan.
Yesterday’s meeting was the start of the portfolio committee’s process of considering the annual performance plans, strategic plans and budgets of departments and entities reporting to it. This forward-looking process focusses on the allocation of resources to the departments and entities for the financial year beginning 1 April 2021 and ending 31 March 2022.
The committee noted that the MDB received a clean audit for the last two consecutive years and improved organisational performance from 59% in 2015/16 to 95%. The committee welcomed this improvement, however it challenged the MDB to retain the clean audit status in the years to come.
The MDB told the committee that it has approached National Treasury for additional resources to extend its footprint into provinces. The MDB also said that it will have to devise a plan on how to decentralise, as they operate from Pretoria.
However, the committee Chairperson, Ms Faith Muthambi, asked the MDB to work closely with district development committees. The MDB should be part and parcel of the District Development Model in municipalities, as they cut across everyone in the value chain. The MDB should be committed to ensuring that the demarcation of municipal boundaries results in the creation of sustainable municipalities.
The committee also made the MDB aware that in some instances, the amalgamation process is directly related to serious municipal financial management problems. The overwhelming majority of the municipalities briefing the committee in November and December 2020 were of the view that the amalgamation process worsened, rather than improved financial viability.
The MDB also indicated to the committee last week that some municipalities demanded that the amalgamation that took place in 2016 be reversed. Ms Muthambi said: “This suggests that we are still far from realising the commitment to demarcate boundaries that create sustainable municipalities able to meet their constitutional obligations in terms of Section 152.”
The committee commended the MDB on the finalisation of the ward delimitation process in time for the 2021 local government elections, despite a challenging Covid-19 working environment.
The committee also received a briefing from the Department of Cogta on the status of the Local Government Municipal Demarcation Act, which will change its name to the Independent Municipal Demarcation Authority Act, and which will be aligned to the Constitution for an independent authority to demarcate municipal boundaries.
The committee requested the MDB to provide it with the maps and research reports it commissioned on the impact of the amalgamation.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS, MS FAITH MUTHAMBI.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact the committee’s Media Officer:
Name: Sureshinee Govender
Parliamentary Communication Services
Tel: 021 403 2239
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E-mail: sugovender@parliament.gov.za
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