Parliament, Friday, 7 May 2021 – The engagement that the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) had yesterday with Dr RS Mompati District Municipality and its five local municipalities as part of its oversight programme in the North West Province, follows two engagements the committee had with the district municipality and its local municipalities in March 2021 where the committee told the municipalities about its unhappiness with their responses to questions it asked on service delivery.

The committee had noted that in the Kagisano-Molopo Local Municipality there was no system to trace persons who are in the employ of the state. The Auditor-General (AG) has been raising this with the municipality since 2017/18 and has made it clear that this is a contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act and Supply Chain Management Regulations.

On both engagements the committee asked the Mamusa Local Municipality about the matter of the legal opinion against the appointment of its current municipal manager. The municipality consistently told the committee that it was unaware about the legal opinion. However, the mayor of the municipality had initially indicated that he was aware of the legal opinion.

The committee wanted clarity on whether the mayor misled Parliament in this regard and the committee will take an appropriate course of action if necessary. The municipality was afforded another opportunity yesterday to provide the committee with correct information.

The committee commended the Centre for Good Governance and Social Justice for coming forward during the stakeholder engagement with evidence showing that the current municipal manager was not appropriately qualified for the post and alleged that he had submitted fraudulent documents of his qualifications.

The committee expressed its dissatisfaction to the mayor about the unavailability the municipal manager, who when asked to account but was unavailable. The committee has instructed the Mayor to take appropriate remedial action and to report to the committee on what action was taken. The committee has expressed its concern over Mamusa Local Municipality’s disclaimed opinions for seven consecutive years.

The Chairperson of the committee, Ms Faith Muthambi, informed the meeting about the National Health Act, 2003, which defines the responsibility of a municipality which includes the provision of health services. The committee has noted spillages flow into the streets and even into houses, something which is a health hazard at the Mamusa Local Municipality.

The committee heard that at the Naledi Local Municipality street lights have not been working for months and that water supply in intermittent. One of the residents, during a meeting of the committee with the stakeholders, said water pipes could be deliberately damaged for the nefarious purpose of creating a situation where tenders would go out. The committee also heard that the municipality has a bloated staff complement and this needs to be addressed as most of the budget is used for staff salaries and very little is left for service delivery.

The committee highlighted the problem of the Dr RS Mompati Local Municipality’s poor application of consequence management against the municipal manager who was responsible for the loss of R150 million through investment in the VBS Mutual Bank. The municipality spent a lot of money in handling disciplinary processes against the municipal manager

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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