Hlabisa says dysfunctional municipalities a priority, but laments Cogta budget cuts

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister, Velenkosini Hlabisa says government will focus on bringing stability to municipalities amid budget cuts to his department.

Hlabisa was speaking to the media on the first day of the Cabinet lekgotla on Saturday.

The government of national unity (GNU)-led meeting is being held at the Sefako Makgatho Presidential Guest House in Pretoria.

Dysfunctional municipalities

The minister told journalists that the Department of Cogta plans to give priority to dysfunctional municipalities across the country.

“The people of South Africa know the municipalities who are constantly in the public domain for bad reasons. They are unable to function, they are engulfed by corrupt activities [or] they begin projects and never finish them.

“The budget gets exhausted, yet the projects are not there and sometimes they are failing even to meet to submission deadlines. The dysfunctional municipalities will be our focus point as a second category,” he said.

Hlabisa highlighted that some municipalities were merged because they were not “financially viable”.

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He said government needed to “draw a line very quickly” should a Section 139 intervention fail to stabilise a non-functioning municipality.

“If we realise any intervention is not working, dissolve that municipality [and] ask the people to re-elect,” Hlabisa said.

“When a municipality has been assisted, but there is reluctance of cooperation, just dissolve them. You send a message to other municipalities that are not functioning because of the quarrels between the leaders, because of corruption [and] because of the high level of poor cooperation,” Hlabisa continued.

Local government stability

The minister also expressed his confidence that parties in the GNU would deal with unstable municipalities as the 2026 local government elections was only two years away.

“The voters will punish the political parties that will deprive them of what could have been better if it was done on time.

“All the political parties in the GNU are committed that we want to see a national, provincial and local government that is working.”

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Hlabisa emphasised that effective service delivery to communities was dependent on the stability of local government.

“The stability in our municipalities must also be ensured in terms of leadership. A municipality with no political stability is one mayor after the other.

“There are quarrels between the mayor, the deputy mayor and the speaker. That municipality becomes unstable and will not be able to deliver services.”

Cogta budget cuts

Hlabisa added that his department would be affected by the budget cuts.

“I will not go into detail now as to which areas to compromise, but the appeal and the engagement we are going to have with the Treasury is to allow us to make movements within the available money, so that we rearrange our priorities and how much we spend.

“If Treasury can allow us to do that, we will be able to do the best out of cuts that we have experienced because it was cross the departments,” the minister added.

READ MORE: Municipalities in turmoil as funds hang in the balance

This week, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Cogta was briefed on the department’s annual performance plan and budget for the 2024/2025 financial year.

MPs were informed that the Cooperative Governance department has been allocated a budget of R125.1 billion, with a baseline reduction of R1.3 billion.

The Traditional Affairs Department was allocated R187.2 million.

The National Assembly is scheduled to debate the budget of the department and its entities next week.

Watch the meeting below: