Phuti Mosomane
COGTA Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa said all the political parties in the Government of National Unity have agreed to take decisive actions against municipalities that are continuing to be dysfunctional despite national government support.
Hlabisa was speaking at the Sefako Makgatho Presidential Guest house in Pretoria on the side-lines of the first cabinet lekgotla on Saturday. Chaired by the President, the Lekgotla is a strategy planning session for the government and sets key priorities for the year.
He said the first thing the government does when intervening in a dysfunctional municipality is to provide support but that cannot go indefinitely as has been the norm over the years.
Hlabisa added that the government will dissolve dysfunctional municipalities and call for elections.
“A line must be drawn somewhere if you realise that when the government tries to intervene and cooperation is bad, the government will have no option but to dissolve a municipality.”
“The South African voters are very smart, and they are watching as to who is depriving them of services. May 29 taught us that as political parties, if you do something wrong you get punished.”
Hlabisa said it’s just two-and-half years before the next municipal elections and those running dysfunctional municipalities will be punished.
“We will provide evidence of interventions offered including timelines to show the level of lack of cooperation and resistance encountered from municipalities.”
Last year, out of 257 municipalities, the Auditor General revealed that only 38 received a clean audit which is about 14.5% of the total.
On Friday, the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) adopted its report on the 2024/25 annual performance and strategic plans and budgets of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA).
The Chairperson Dr. Zweli Mkhize said the committee has resolved to convene follow-up meetings with the department and MISA to receive detailed information on the state of distressed and dysfunctional municipalities, interventions by national and provincial executives on distressed and dysfunctional municipalities and the financial viability of municipalities, including those that have been amalgamated.
Other issues the committee seek to answer are also related to the state of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, and municipal debt relating to bulk water and electricity services, as well as the state of municipal non-revenue water losses.
The committee is scheduled to debate the budget of the department and its entities this coming week.
The 2024/25 budget allocation for the Department of Cooperative Governance has a baseline reduction of R1.3 billion and amounts to R125.1 billion, while MISA has received a budget allocation of R406.6 million.
The Department of Traditional Affairs has been allocated a budget of R187.2 million for the 2024/25 financial year.
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