Parliament, Wednesday, 5 May 2021 – The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) engaged with Bojanala Platinum District Municipality and its local municipalities yesterday on, among other things, state of service delivery in the district and its municipalities.
The engagement follows a previous one which the committee with Parliament’s Standing Committee on Accounts (Scopa) had with Bojanala Platinum District Municipality and Madibeng Local Municipality.
Opening the meeting, the Chairperson of the committee, Ms Faith Muthambi, said: “Notwithstanding these appearances, the two municipalities remain stubborn and continue to obtain disclaimed audit opinions for more than five consecutive years. There is no indication that these appearances were taken serious as there is no change in the audit outcomes.”
In its meeting with Madibeng Local Municipality on 26 August 2020, the committee highlighted its concerns around the entrenched pattern of consecutive disclaimed audit opinions dating back to 2015/16 financial year. The municipality’s presentation indicated that it had addressed only 39 percent of the 197 audit findings in respect of the 2018/19 disclaimed opinion. The committee did not accept that.
The committee has noted the deterioration of the municipality’s financial situation after the municipality had invested R31.5 million in VBS Mutual Bank, an amount of money which was written off by the council as a financial loss. The committee noted that consequence management in relation to this matter has not been satisfactory. Another concern which the committee expressed related to payments to consultants that were more than what the municipality had in its purse.
The committee was informed that the municipality had been under administration for four times according to Section 139(1) (b) of the Constitution, but all those interventions didn’t produce the desired results. For example, the municipality is still among those identified as the most distressed in the province despite these successive interventions.
One of the resolutions of the meeting which was held on 26th August 2020 with Madibeng Local Municipality, was that the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, must furnish the committee with a list of performance contracts of the administrators that served in Madibeng Local Municipality, as well as consequences that were applied against those that did not perform adequately.
The committee requested this report after it realised that the administrators were part of the problem. Also, the committee has not received this report and has requested an explanation for that failure.
The committee said that the Madibeng Local Municipality has serious underlying challenges that will take a long time to be alleviated. Furthermore, the committee told the leaders and managers of the municipality that the most serious of all, is that the leadership of the municipal has lost the trust of the community. The committee told the municipality to regain that trust and do so as soon as possible.
The Chairperson of the committee, Ms Muthambi, told the Rustenburg, Kgetleng River Local Municipalities and Bojanala District Municipality that the committee didn’t receive their presentations and that communicated a message that these municipalities are not taking the committee serious. She said other municipalities in the district submitted their presentations on time to afford the committee enough time to peruse their presentations.
During the stakeholder engagement session that took place earlier, the committee received presentations from concerned citizens who brought to its attention a problem of the lack of service delivery at Rustenburg Local Municipality.
Those presentations highlight, among other things, crumbling roads in the municipality that have dangerous potholes, street lights not working or working during the day, crumbling water infrastructure, no water for days in Tierkloof as well as the municipality’s failure to hold public engagement sessions with its residents.
Ms Muthambi told the leaders and mangers of the municipalities that the committee keeps track of the issues raised, and follows on the commitments made. The committee urged the Mayor of the Rustenburg Local Municipality to prioritise the concerns that were raised by the residents and provide a written report on those concerns to the committee by next Tuesday.
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
Cell: 081 704 1109
E-mail: sugovender@parliament.gov.za
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