Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha delivered the keynote address at the South African Local Government Association (Salga) Provincial Members Assembly in Bela-Bela last Wednesday and emphasised that municipalities need to reposition themselves to reclaim their inherent position in the development trajectory. “Municipalities cannot afford to be on the side lines and just admire development taking place in their space,” Mathabatha reckoned.
The Premier said that the very existence of Salga is about coordination and support and that its strategic mandate is to ensure a coordinated support to municipalities within the province. He requested delegates to come forward with strategies to assist municipalities to overcome challenges that include poor accountability and relationships with communities, problems with the political administrative interface, poor compliance with legislative and regulatory frameworks, corruption and fraud, lack of proper planning and poor project management as well as lack of forward and integrated planning on current and capital projects. Mathabatha also referred to the lack of suitably qualified and skilled personnel in some instances and none and under-expenditure of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant.
Dysfunctional municipalities
“I think it is a very serious indictment on all of us that we should have even a single municipality classified as dysfunctional. It is a serious indictment on mayors and councillors who preside over such municipalities,” the Premier stressed.
“As you know, dysfunctionality in most municipalities is as a result of poor governance, political instability; poor audit outcomes, a high vacancy rate at senior management level and poor spending on MIG. Our Back-to-Basics Programme was aimed specifically at addressing some of these challenges and the question we have to answer in this meeting is why some municipalities are falling to respond to this prescription,” Mathabatha said and asked delegates to apply their minds to finding answers on what to do to rescue the dysfunctional municipalities from total collapse.
Only slight improvement in audit outcomes
Mathabatha referred to the latest MFMA audit report and remarked that the Auditor-General painted a picture of slight improvement in audit outcomes. “In simple terms, the Auditor General says that there is nomotivation to do things the right way. He goes further to say that there are no consequences for doing things the wrong way. We will be putting more pressure on Salga and various councils to ensure that those who are not prepared to do things the right way give way to those who will do the right things,” Mathabatha warned.
The Premier alluded to the high levels of irregular expenditure, the poor quality of submitted financial statements, higher levels of non-compliance with governance laws, delays in submitting annual reports to councils, the failure to investigate findings and a failure to take action on findings as matters of concern.
Development depends on municipal capacity
“Salga also has an inherent obligation to assist in the efforts to strengthen the capacity of our municipalities and the development we are all talking about is largely dependent on the capacities of our municipalities to drive such a development. Municipalities are, and should remain our strategic engines of development. All countries which have improved on their development trajectory have done so through local government,” Mathabatha said and added that this is because all development projects and initiatives, takes place at a local level.
“You all know about our SEZ initiative which is taking place in the municipalities of Musina, Makhado and Fetakgomo/Tubatse. You would also know that such a massive development project is taking place in the space of local government and as you know, this SEZ initiative is expected to revitalise Limpopo’s industrial economy by utilising our local mineral resources and integrating the industrial chains of both the upstream and downstream,” the Premier said and explained that several plants will be constructed under the SEZ projects that are expected to create no less than 28 000 jobs for the people of Limpopo.
In closing, Mathabatha wished the delegates a successful assembly with fruitful deliberations.
Story and photo: BARRY VILJOEN
>>barryv.observer@gmail.com
