Parliament, Wednesday, 18 September 2019 – Free State Permanent Delegates to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) began the Provincial Week Programme yesterday by receiving comprehensive briefings by the MEC of Finance, the Auditor-General (A-G) and South African Local Government Association’s (Salga’s) representatives and municipalities about the financial state of affairs in the province.
According to the Auditor-General’s report, there is a total collapse of control measures in the province. Also, municipalities owe bulk water and electricity to both the Water Boards and Eskom, with amounts totalling more than R3.8 billion and R9.75 billion respectively. The A-G further flagged several accountability failures in the Free State – these being, among other things – a total breakdown in internal controls, non-existent oversight by all assurance providers and late or non-submission of financial statements. Irregular expenditure was also highlighted as a challenge and had increased from R 677 million to R913 million.
Delegates from the NCOP, together with their provincial legislature counterparts, were also informed by the MEC for Finance that the financial health of the province was in dire straits as there is lack of accountability and oversight, poor long-term planning and budgeting, and weak intergovernmental relations.
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) also painted a grim picture on the state of affairs of some municipalities. Issues of accountability on public funding were raised as some municipalities failed to deliver accurate, reliable and complete performance reporting.
Briefings were also received from the Setsoto and Mantsopa municipalities, where they stated that up to 85% of households owe municipalities over R365 million and R416 million, respectively. They further highlighted that the high rate of executive and critical vacancies turnover was also hampering service delivery.
The Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality stated that in relation to infrastructure and service delivery, there is a huge household backlog relating to water and sanitation dating as far back as 2009. Another challenge brought to the fore was the maintenance of the city’s assets, as they increased from R16.2 billion to R16.6 billion, and the debt balance from government, business and households was ever increasing to about R6.2 billion.
Salga highlighted several challenges that impacted on delivery of the municipal mandate, such as excessive legislation and over-regulation of local government. It proposed a review and assessment of regulatory obligations and the review of powers and functions of municipalities.
In his closing remarks, the Leader of the Delegation to the NCOP and Provincial Whip, Mr Itumeleng Ntsube, said: “The lack of service delivery in the province is worrying and mostly it is informed by the lack of revenue collection by municipalities.”
Today’s programme has been suspended to accommodate the joint sitting called by President Cyril Ramaphosa to address the issues on gender-based violence in South Africa. Tomorrow, various projects will be visited in Ficksburg and Ladybrand, including the Van Soelen Outfall Sewer Pipeline, storm water in Vukuzenzele and the Manyatseng road construction.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF MR ITUMELENG NTSUBE, LEADER OF THE FREE STATE NCOP DELEGATION.
For media inquiries or interviews with the Leader of the delegation, please contact:
Tebatso Mabilisa
Parliamentary Communication Services
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Email: Tmabilisa@parliament.gov.za
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