Parliament, Tuesday, 20 July 2021 – The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) today received a briefing from the new political administration of JB Marks Local Municipality on issues raised during the committee’s oversight visit.
The committee undertook a week-long oversight visit to the North West Province, from 2 to 7 May 2021. The oversight visit was in part a follow-up on matters raised during its previous engagements with some municipalities in the province. In the Kenneth Kaunda District, JB Marks is one of the municipalities which the committee had previously met before the oversight visit. The challenges in JB Marks came to the committee’s attention late last year when it had convened meetings with most of the municipalities which had been subjected to amalgamation during the 2016 demarcation cycle.
Before merging with Ventersdorp Municipality to form JB Marks, Tlokwe Municipality had been receiving unqualified audit opinions since 2012/13, 2013/14, and 2014/15. Ventersdorp on the other hand, had been obtaining disclaimed audit opinions in 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16. The new JB Marks entity has stagnated on qualified audit opinions over the last three financial years. The merger has clearly had an adverse effect on the financial performance of the new municipality.
During the oversight visit, the committee learnt that JB Marks was one of the municipalities that had been selected for material irregularity audit in terms of the amended Public Audit Act. When the committee met the municipality at the Matlosana Civic Centre on 7 May 2021, the committee posed a number of questions which could not be answered immediately due to time constraints.
The committee therefore requested written replies. Today’s meeting is in part a follow-up on those written answers. The municipality was given a deadline of 13 May 2021 to submit the written responses. However, the Acting Municipal Manager submitted a request for the extension of the deadline to 19 May 2021. The committee noted that the responses were received on 16 July 2021, which is more than two months after the initial deadline.
The municipality on 14 May 2021 elected a new Mayor, Alderlady Mapule Mataboge, marking a change of leadership. The meeting today hoped to address the challenges that have ravaged the new municipality over the last five years. However, the question of the process of the election of the new mayor came up. The MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, Mr Mmoloki Cwaile, said he will respond in writing to the committee in five days on the process of the election of the mayor.
The committee raised its concern over the non-attendance of councillors for Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) meetings as the committee is still to meet for this year. It further requested a response from the mayor on what action was being taken against members who boycott this committee. The committee also wanted to know of the R58 000 owed to the municipality, how much was owed by the councillors and what arrangements were made to recover this amount?
With regard to the R300 million irregular and fruitless expenditure incurred by the municipality, the committee requested a detailed breakdown of how and when the expenditure was incurred. The municipality reported that the amount was incurred by the Ventersdorp Municipality before the merger, and that they could not provide the information as the building had burnt down with the evidence and that the council will have to write off that R300 million.
The committee heard that the Financial Disciplinary Board will be in place by August this year and that the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Municipal Manager (MM) were suspended pending an investigation into the Supply Chain Management processes. The committee was also informed that the former Supply Chain Manager had resigned within 24 hours and the municipality had to look for its resources such as vehicles. The municipality could not provide a response to the question posed by the Chairperson of the committee, Ms Faith Muthambi, on what the status of the disciplinary hearing of the CFO and MM is?
The committee heard that the JB Marks Municipality’s budget is one of three municipalities in the province which have been approved and funded for the 2021 year.
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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