Parliament, Friday, 18 October 2019 – The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) considers it totally unacceptable that its public participation programme was sabotaged by the actions of the Mogalakwena Local Municipality in Limpopo.
The committee concluded its four-day oversight visit to the municipalities in Limpopo that had invested in Venda Mutual Bank (VBS) and received successive disclaimer audit opinions. As part of its programme, the committee scheduled interactive sessions with stakeholders in various municipalities to get first-hand information on the level of service delivery rendered by municipalities.
“In all municipalities that the stakeholder interactions where scheduled, the meetings went ahead without a glitch. It was only in Mogalakwena that there was clear sabotage of the stakeholder engagement. This has robbed the committee of the opportunity to interact with communities they represent and is a direct attack to the constitutional imperative of public participation. Furthermore, Parliament’s rules compel the National Assembly to facilitate public involvement in the legislative and other processes of the assembly and its committees,” said Ms Faith Muthambi, the Chairperson of the committee.
The committee is of the view that there was a deliberate attempt to prevent the public engagement precisely because people are trying to hide the impact of the malfeasance happening within that municipality. It should also be stated that, by sabotaging the engagement, the municipality robbed themselves of an opportunity to hear first-hand experiences of their residents, as well as a platform to update residents on the measures to arrest the worrying decline of the municipality.
The platform was also to share ideas on how to reverse the negative audit opinions the municipality achieved over the past five financial years. The municipality received and unqualified, disclaimer, disclaimer, adverse and adverse audit findings in the five financial years respectively.
Regarding the administration of the municipality, the committee is of the considered view that the municipality is dysfunctional and as such is unable to deliver on its basic functions. For example, the reports of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) have not been successfully considered by council in the previous two years (2016/17 and 2017/18). This is concerning in the context of the negative audit opinions that the municipality received in the past five years. This is also despite the fact that the municipality has a staggering R2 845 387 223 in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
The committee also found it questionable that the mayor had given the municipal manager three months of study leave, despite the fact that the municipal manager only joined in April 2019. This also deprived the municipality of stable leadership, which it needs to deal with its challenges.
Furthermore, the appointment of the acting municipal manager goes against Section 59 of the Municipal Systems Act, in that the appointment is set for over the 20 days as set out in legislation.
In Lepelle Nkumpi Local Municipality, the committee welcomed the initiatives to remedy areas of concern highlighted by the Office of the Auditor-General. The committee welcomes the cancellation of contracts given to suppliers who have directors that are in the employ of the state. Furthermore, the initiative to follow-up with the South African Police Service and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation in relations to cases opened against perpetrators of the VBS investments show a municipality that accepts its mistakes and a burning intention to atone for them. In other municipalities, councils and management had only opened cases and never bothered to follow-up.
Also, initiatives to deal decisively with payment of suppliers are a step in the right direction and are important to the sustainability of small and medium enterprises that are the heartbeat of the economy.
Following the conclusion of the oversight in Limpopo, the committee has committed to monitoring progress in fixing areas of concern raised by the Auditor-General. The committee has also committed to returning to these municipalities to see if the undertakings by municipalities have been made. The committee has also called for introspection by councils to ensure that they reconnect with the sense of duty to serve the residents in their municipalities.
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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