Integrated Urban Development Framework; National Disaster Management Centre; with Deputy Ministers

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Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

04 September 2019
Chairperson: Ms F Muthambi (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Committee was briefed on the Integrated Urban Development Framework by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs with both Deputy Ministers in attendance. The presentation highlighted the need for South Africa to respond to urbanization by adopting a National Urban Policy. The policy was approved by Cabinet in 2016 and it recognizes the importance of active community participation. The overall outcome is to achieve spatial transformation by looking at the key elements of land, transport, housing and jobs. There is a challenge in coordinating infrastructure funding because government grants do not always achieve spatial planning. It is important for government to collaborate with partners who can bring expertise, funding and opportunities to municipalities. The objective is to institutionalise municipal long-term infrastructure planning and 11 cities have started to do this. The implementation methodology was piloted in various municipalities. Diagnostic assessments and reports were compiled and presented to all of the pilot sites. The key challenge is that nothing can be done before the report is adopted by the municipal council. There were 32 applications for the grant in 2018 but only five municipalities met all requirements.

The National Disaster Management Centre presentation highlighted the international responsibilities of the Centre in providing relief and rescue missions. The Centre has two teams to do this, one in the Western Cape and one in Gauteng. The Fire Brigade Services Act is currently being reviewed so that it can be amended in line with applicable legislation. There is an institutional challenge where no fire service focal points exist in some provinces. This makes coordination of services very difficult. Other challenges include a shortage of personnel, not all officials have the required technical knowledge for the positions they occupy, only two Heads of Centre have been appointed, funding to implement disaster risk reduction is not prioritised by other departments and instead funding disaster response still seems to be the focus. In most cases, centres are under-resourced and under-capacitated which negatively affects morale and performance. Disaster management plans are not supported with budgets to ensure implementation and some have not been updated in more than five years. There are also challenges in implementing grants which National Treasury has agreed to address.

The Committee raised concern that most municipalities do not have sufficient planning when it comes to infrastructure. Members asked for more detail on the District Based Service Delivery Model and its implications; the requirements for a municipality to obtain a Integrated Urban Development Grant (IUDG) and for updates about the five municipalities that did receive a grant. Members raised concern that the Northern Cape does not have Disaster Management Centre or developed framework when it is facing the biggest drought in 50 years. Members asked about municipalities which lack skills and human expertise for spatial planning and land use management. Members asked how the Department plans to speed up the security of land tenure and what plans it has in place to fix the non-alignment between planning and housing development. Members asked for clarity on the IUDG mechanisms and which municipalities have received them. Members also asked how local municipalities are going to be assisted to prepare for disasters. Members said land expropriation without compensation must be dealt with when talking about spatial inequality. Members raised concern about urban migration and the development of rural areas. The implications for safety when fires happen in informal settlements, littering, the contamination of rivers and climate change were also highlighted as concerns.

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed both Deputy Ministers to the meeting.

Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF)
Mr Diale Lodi, Chief Director: Urban Development Planning: DCOG, said the South African National Urban Policy started in 2012 where a discussion and research on IUDF took place. Thereafter it was approved by Cabinet in 2016. It is in line with the global agenda since many countries around the world have developed an urban planning policy. South Africa must respond to urbanization. The essence of the policy is to achieve safe cities and towns that are socially integrated, economically inclusive and globally competitive, where residents actively participate in urban life. It recognizes the importance of active community participation and does not only focus on the role of government. The IUDF overall outcome is to achieve spatial transformation. Land, transport, housing and jobs are key elements to look at in attaining this outcome. One of the short-term priorities is to ensure alignment of spatial, sectoral and strategic plans. Processes must be designed by government right at the start because it becomes more difficult at the tail end of the process. The designing of processes and how to align them applies at national, provincial and local levels. The whole of government must be planning together.

Mr Lodi said another key priority is to strengthen and integrate public transport modes. The re-development of townships speaks to another aspect of the policy. The policy deals with re-developing the entire country and partnerships that will be formed to do so. There is a challenge in coordinating infrastructure funding. The problem is how the grants across government are realized in the cities as these do not always help to achieve spatial planning. There are discussions happening with the National Treasury to consolidate grants. An objective is to institutionalise municipal long-term infrastructure planning and 11 cities have started to do this so far. The importance of climate change must be looked at because it impacts migration patterns and agricultural sectors. The accessibility of water is also something to be concerned about. The policy tries to come up with ways to encourage citizens to embrace the vision of spatial planning and to give them incentives to participate. There are core IUDF implementation partners such as the private sector. The IUDF has two committees, a political and a technical one. The political committee is comprised of Deputy Ministers and is established to provide oversight, discuss policies and challenges. The technical committee comprises departmental officials that provide overall technical guidance and reports to the political committee.

Mr Lodi said the implementation methodology was tested in various municipalities. Diagnostic assessments and reports were compiled and presented to all of the pilot sites. The key challenge is that nothing can be done before the report is adopted by the municipal council. The council has to agree on certain issues and come up with a support plan before action can be taken. On the implementation of the grant, 32 applications were received in 2018 but only five municipalities met all the requirements. One of the criteria that must be met is a good and stable audit finding. The Capital Expenditure Framework (CEF) is an important tool to ensure long-term infrastructure investment in municipalities. It is not a programme done in isolation. Various issues are first linked together, such as the economic growth strategy and long term financial planning, before prioritization takes place. It must be priority development areas where spatial transformation should take place. The Department has recently been approached by the African Development Bank to work together with government to support municipalities. Collaborating partners bring expertise, funding and opportunities to municipalities. It cannot only be left to the Department because everyone must be involved. The Cabinet approved the new District Based Service Delivery Model and it is important to be responsive to how the introduction of the model can be enhanced. The approach of government is to have one plan that is long-term and transforms the entire country.

National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC)
Mr Mmaphaka Tau, Head: National Disaster Management Centre, said the presentation will empower the Committee to perform its oversight function. The Fifth Parliament Committee Legacy Report recommended a colloquium be held. He encouraged that this recommendation be followed up and include representatives of other parliamentary committees. The NDMC has not only national and regional responsibilities but massive international responsibilities too. There is a hurricane currently affecting the Bahamas and the NDMC remains on high alert if it is needed to provide support. It is key for sustainable development and humanity. NDMC deals with humanitarian issues by providing psycho-social support and shelter to victims. Climate change hazards are increasing and therefore measures must be heightened. South Africa like other countries, faces disaster challenges and service delivery backlogs. NDMC places emphasis on prevention and mitigation for disaster management. It works with the private sector and other role players. It is important to have plans in place to prepare for the approaching rainfall season in the Northern area.

Mr Tau said there are certain processes which have to be followed. Other departments have to budget for disaster solutions. The Department only comes in when they have exhausted all their resources. An event is not a disaster if it can be dealt with in terms of legislation of another department. NDMC is a global platform for disaster management. Reports are given to the Minister and to Cabinet before these reach the United Nations. International meetings are held in this context. The UN Rescue Committee is a structure that deals with rescue. South Africa had teams that went to Haiti and it is on standby if there is a need to go to the Bahamas. There are two teams in the country, one in the Drakensberg and one in Gauteng. The Department is currently reviewing the Fire Brigade Services Act to align it with applicable legislation. It is in the process of submitting the White Paper and Members can expect to engage with it before it is finalised with Cabinet. A well-functioning fire service is critical for attracting investment. There are key challenges facing fire services which is why there is a need to amend the legislation so that legal mandates do not hinder its implementation. There is ongoing engagement with Treasury on this. There is an institutional challenge where there is a lack of focal points in five provinces. This makes the coordination of services very difficult. It is a huge challenge for the Director and Deputy-Director to manage coordination of the whole country.

Mr Tau said there has been a decline in the submission of quarterly monitoring and reporting reports by provinces and municipalities. There are various challenges which still remain in the implementation of functions. These include a shortage of personnel, not all officials have the required technical knowledge for the positions they occupy and only two Centre Heads have been appointed in provinces. Funding to implement disaster risk reduction is not prioritised by other departments and instead funding disaster response still seems to be the focus. In most cases, centres are under-resourced and under-capacitated which negatively affects morale and performance. Disaster management plans are not supported with budgets to ensure implementation and some have not been updated in more than five years. Flooding is a common phenomenon that needs to be dealt with.

The Minister of Finance made a pronouncement that R6 billion will be allocated to drought and other emergencies. There are challenges in implementing grants. These include a dependency on grants, the process for appropriating money, rollovers mean provinces have to wait to get a response and applications often get declined. There is also a challenge of funds being used for unintended purposes. Treasury is going to address these challenges. Traditional leaders must be placed at the centre of all risk reduction measures. Members are requested to support the NDMC by encouraging compliance with legislation and advocating for the appointment of Heads of Centres.

Discussion
Mr I Groenewald (FF+) said most municipalities do not have sufficient planning for infrastructure and this impacts the quality. He referenced a water tunnel which was built lower than it should be. How do you create infrastructure if it is not going to work? When planning new infrastructure, the current infrastructure must be looked at. The new infrastructure will fail if it is built on top of failing infrastructure. Most fire stations do not have equipment and the presentation did not give an overview on this. Sinkholes has not been addressed. Some have been on the national roads for four years. Infrastructure must be looked at to assist in providing sustainable water. There is a problem in the North West where boreholes are being used to dump things.

Mr C Brink (DA) asked for a more detailed presentation on the District Based Service Delivery Model. Cabinet has approved it but what are the details and implications of it? Five municipalities were successful in obtaining the grant. Can the grant requirements be given in more detail than bullet points? One of the bullet points is stable management. What does that mean? How are those five municipalities doing in grant  spending and performance? Information on this should be provided on a quarterly basis so the Committee can assess how things are going in the short to medium term. NDMC is not just a reaction unit but it also has a risk mitigation function. Is there a risk register NDMC looks at? Can the Committee access it? What are the three biggest vulnerabilities in Gauteng? Policy makers will find this information useful.

Ms G Opperman (DA) said it is alarming the Northern Cape does not have a disaster management or framework. The Northern Cape is currently facing the biggest drought in 50 years. How can the Northern Cape executive be forced to comply with legislative requirements for a functioning centre? How can you nationally speed up drought release funding to the Northern Cape? Farmers are now indebted, cannot secure loans and farm workers are at risk of losing their jobs. In Namaqualand 30 boreholes were built in 2017. The Department of Water and Sanitation insists all underground water sources must first be exhausted before they can intervene. Reliance on underground water as the only source is disastrous. A water shortage is foreseen and this can be avoided by looking at water usage across South Africa. Usable water is being flushed down the toilet.

Ms Opperman said Namaqualand is the biggest municipality geographically in South Africa and there is only one regional town and city planner. Can you see how disastrous that is? How do municipalities address the lack of skills and human expertise for spatial planning and land use management? On a local level, tribunals consist of a town city planner, legal expert, conveyancer and officials who take a decision but when appeals arise, municipal councils handle it. Municipal councils often lack legal expertise and town planning knowledge. How can we improve the appeal procedure? What plan do you have in place to promote land value capture and speed up the security of land tenure? What strategic plans are in place to fix the non-alignment between planning and housing development that continues to exist? How will you upscale integrated intergovernmental development plans?

Ms D Direko (ANC) said the majority of municipalities do not have sectoral plans or land use management policies. The presentation indicates the plan to align sector plans as a short-term priority. How are you going to be able to do this and what is the reality of short term priorities? The presentation speaks of new grant mechanisms being introduced. Which municipalities have they been introduced in? What is the difference between the old and new funding that municipalities receive? Matjhabeng is turning into a ghost town. The economy has declined because it depends only on the mining sector. What stage are you at implementing the grant there?

Ms Direko said the challenge of local municipalities is they do not have disaster centres and there is a shortage of staff who are trained in dealing with disasters. Officials and councillors do not know the procedures to follow. What are you doing to assist local municipalities so they are ready to handle disasters? The presentation is discouraging because you cannot turn things around in five years. Government needs to think of new strategies to redesign the state. There needs to be an extensive meeting where all stakeholders come together, share ideas and come up with a plan. Spatial planning and land use management is important because most municipalities do not have strategies. Economic strategies must be aligned with local municipalities and they must be worked with closely.

Mr K Ceza (EFF) said the expropriation of land without compensation will confront the issue of spatial inequality. How are you going to deal with influx and migration into the cities? A lot of people are left in the rural areas with no social, economic and employment activities. How are you going to develop the township economy if there is a distinction between the city and the township where there is no economic activity at all? Why is it that townships are the areas where there are dumping sites? The presentation indicates that by 2030, 71% of South Africans will live in urban areas. How is this going to be resolved in the context of the allocation and distribution of land?

Mr G Mpumza (ANC) noted the institutional arrangement of NDMC. Is the branch properly resourced? Human capital is important to carry out its task. There spoke of steep areas that have landslides. Those communities are confronted by the damage it causes. This indicates there is not resilient infrastructure. How do you coordinate other state organs to provide resilient infrastructure? On post-disaster recovery response, to what extent do you intervene to provide relief?

Ms M Tlou (ANC) said safety of people and workers is key. On disaster risk challenges, do you have information centres in all municipality offices? People need to be informed about preventing or reducing risk of disaster by not building shacks or houses near rivers. In most cases people are affected by floods because they build their shacks near the river. They do not blame themselves but they blame government which is totally unacceptable. Do you have criteria for the type of information to give people? Does each province have a toll free centre so people can get help if floods affect them? The migration of people moving from rural areas to urban areas increases on a daily basis. Who is monitoring and evaluating the areas intended for development? New townships are built but at the end of the day there is no development. People travel far to get to work and there are transport challenges. There is fighting between people who build shacks near to formal housing. Are there mechanisms for stopping the fighting? People are moving to urban areas to seek a better life. Land expropriation without compensation should be the order of the day.

Ms P Xaba-Ntshaba (ANC) referred to migration and asked why the Department does not create cities and employment opportunities in rural areas. It does not make sense to focus only on existing cities. People from rural areas are suffering. When is government going to do new and innovative things? Rural areas must be developed, malls must be built and places to stay. Rural people must be part of the development. How do you improve the economy in rural areas and ensure people are getting a better life? There is no mention in the presentation about asking communities what they want.

Ms Xaba-Ntshaba asked if disaster management had enough budget allocation to respond in an emergency? She gave the example of four children who had died in a shack fire this year. The re-alignment of informal settlements needs to be prioritised because shacks are too congested. A fire extinguisher does not help. Shacks are burning every day. The Department cannot only target the cities, there needs to be re-alignment of informal settlements in each and every area.

Mr B Luthuli (IFP) said government owns a lot of land all over South Africa. It must speed up delivery of expropriation of land without compensation. This will stop the influx of people from rural to urban areas. The President can make a declaration to give land to cities so the city can develop it. Municipalities do not cooperate with traditional leaders. They want to make decisions without them. Traditional leaders must be contacted and come to an agreement about land being developed.

The Chairperson noted the shacks in Khayelitsha. If there is a fire it means a lot of lives are going to be lost. Is there a plan to deal with safety challenges? The National Development Plan (NDP) aims to have safe cities but it is actually a fight for resources. He asked for COGTA's opinion on the situation in Durban. There is litter everywhere. On the IUDF and the core implementation partners, what allocation is made for national level? Can the Deputy Ministers give the Committee details of the diagnostic assessments of the participating municipalities? These municipalities must be given a timeframe to comment on the report because municipal council approval is taking a lot of time. This needs to be monitored.

The Chairperson agreed that the Committee needs to know details of the criteria that municipalities have to meet to qualify for the IUDG. Only five out of the 39 applications were given grants and this shows something is wrong. The communication with the municipalities needs to be addressed. On recent developments in Johannesburg, where are executive of the municipalities located in the presentation? Local economic development must be looked at. Is urban development going to resolve the tension between attracting investment and climate change? New infrastructure being built on old infrastructure needs to be dealt with. There is an insufficient link between programmes and the NDP. The Committee will follow up on Treasury's recommendation. A special national disaster fund for risk management to cater for climate change needs to be established. This will go a long way in addressing financial management in local municipalities. Littering in municipalities and the contamination of rivers is also a concern.

Responses
Mr Sithole Mbanga, Chief Executive: South African Cities Network, said the Cities Network was born out of the idea of knowledge sharing between local spheres of government. A group of mayors who had been activists in their lifetime were now being asked to mandate institutions which they had never done before. They decided it would be best to group together and produce evidence of how best to transform municipalities. Cape Town is not a member but in the near future they will be part and parcel of it. The collaboration of mayors and city managers has four main elements: the role of political leadership, management that drives strategy, administration that allocates resources and the operation. Members must experience what is happening on the ground and engage with municipalities. The presentation on its own is not sufficient. People are geographical by nature and will move from one place to another. Migration can never be stopped. Urbanization must be understood within the South African context. It is characterised by poverty and it is happening in the context of apartheid spatial planning. When people come to the city they are unable to afford and live in it. Municipalities will not be able to produce planning capacity on their own. It is not the failure of the municipalities but the failure of the system to support them. Expropriation of land without compensation will not solve the problem. There are going to be other factors which are necessary such as the need for long-term planning.

Mr Tau replied NDMC is aware of the sinkhole. A task team is in place and once the Centre receives a report, Members will be given an update. The Centre has a national risk register which profiles risks. So far lightning, storms, hail and snow have been done. Hazards have been assessed and the next step is to profile vulnerabilities. Provinces also have their own risk profiles to identify hazards. The risk registers can be made available to the Committee. The Northern Cape leadership is working hard to ensure a framework is in place. Capacity in terms of manpower remains a challenge. Where water is a challenge in an area, it is important not to construct houses with baths but showers instead to save water. Disaster risk management is intergovernmental and applies both horizontally and vertically. It is important for municipalities to conceptualise its organogram and to prioritise disaster management programmes. Through monitoring and evaluation reports, it is brought to NDMC attention but their responses are varying. Pollution and littering are being worked on.

Mr Musiwalo Khangale, Director: Fire Services: National Disaster Management Centre, said the Centre conducts surveys and measures if municipalities have the requisite equipment and personnel. The majority of municipalities do not comply with these standards. The Centre is working with Treasury on how best to resolve this. The number of fires in informal settlements has increased. Fire departments can make the most impact through attempting to change the behaviour of residents. A public awareness element is important. The Centre is also working with the private sector to put in smoke alarms.

Mr Lodi replied that the Department agreed with the importance of the maintenance of infrastructure and the infrastructure maintenance guidelines sets out clear goals and ensures the allocation of sufficient funds.

On the district-based development model, he replied that the DG and Ms Fani would comment on that.

On spatial planning capacity, the Department viewed it as the role that it would play from now onwards. For instance, with the reconfiguration of district municipalities, SALGA was looking at a regional approach to spatial planning to understand how the Department would do it in the long-term.

The Department had not begun the work yet on land evaluation. However, through the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) supported programme, there had been initiatives using past experience to extrapolate onto small districts. Long-term planning would only be established after deliberations and seeing positive outcomes from these small districts.

He acknowledged the observation made by Ms Marawu about the short-term priority of the Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF).

He would ask Ms Fani to answer Ms Ntshaba’s question on why Makhanda was not part of the Intermediate City Municipalities.

In terms of the work that had been done on the IUDG, he responded that quarterly quorums had been held with municipalities to check the compliance with the spatial development frameworks.

On informal settlements, he answered that perhaps the Committee could take a lesson from the Alexandra  Inter-Ministerial Task Team on Service Delivery and the answer to the question might be unravelled.

He emphasised that there was a dedicated team to work on a proposal to echo the President’s resolution about the development of new cities.

On the time frame for the municipality, he admitted that there was a risk but the council would have to learn to mitigate the risks. 

Ms Nomkita Fani, Director: Intermediate Cities and Spatial Planning, clarified the classifications on cities and municipalities. Of the 97 potential cities the Department had selected, it shortlisted 39 candidate cities. The parameters that had been employed to assess a city were its population size as well as economic size. Makhanda’s population’s size may have qualified it as a city, but its economic size disqualified it.

Ms Fani assured the Committee about the Capital Expenditure Framework that the Department had always made sure that a percentage of expenditure would be used to address infrastructural capacities, backlogs, mal-functionality and such-like. COGTA ensured that municipalities had their asset management plans in place. The Integrated Urban Development Grant was an incentive based grant that was used to encourage municipalities to perform better on infrastructural maintenance.

On the criteria for qualifying, Ms Fani replied that certain assumptions had been used to give out this grant. Since the municipalities know their own spaces better than the Department, the criteria used were more generic such as: governance is in place, basic service delivery was completed such as grass was cut. There were five minimum conditions:
- Top management’s information for two years;
- Ensuring the quick replacement of vacancies;
- Audit findings must be nothing less than unqualified;
- Municipality expenditure must not be less than 7,45% of the greater budget; assess if municipality was able to sustain its own capital expenditure budget
- Can only miss two in terms of Section 52(d) performance reporting.

Dr ​Mmaphaka Tau, Head: National Disaster Management Centre, commented on the mobilisation and awareness raising of traditional leaders to allocate people in times of emergency. He remarked that it was everyone’s responsibility in cases of emergency and should be taken as a community approach. He emphasised the importance of practical skills that all abled young people should learn.

The Director-General, Mr Dan Mashitisho, commented on COGT's internal capacity, saying it was working with National Treasury on the matter and would inform the Committee about that.

The Director-General replied about land, saying the biggest landowner was not government. The biggest land ownership was the private sector, either institutions or individuals, which accounted for up to 60%.  This was followed by 30% owned by traditional leaders and government owned about 27%. Government had agreed to release land in areas where land demand was high.

On the resolution between traditional leaders and government, he commented that government needed to work with traditional leaders and try its best to avoid court cases. Urbanisation was inevitable, however, it did not mean ignoring the development of rural areas – due to its ability to supply food to the city. Perhaps we should think about the Chinese model of reinvesting in the rural areas. Rural development does not stop the migration to cities.

On the backlog of 8000 land claims, the Department could not deal with the 2015-2019 new claims until the backlog had been sorted. In the Eastern Cape around Umtata, a good example is asking people to move and then compensate for relocating to other land. He emphasised the importance of resolving such matters by working with traditional leaders.

Municipal Structures Amendment Draft Bill
Mr Tebogo Motlashuping, COGTA Acting DDG: Institutional Development) briefed the Committee on the proposed amendments to the Municipal Structures Act. As background, he said that as a result of the 2011 amendments, the Department was able to fill 1 311 positions at the municipal level. All other appointments that had been made were in line with the relevant legislative framework and all new employees were subject to passing a competence assessment. The Department was also looking at ways to develop a uniform system with rules for all municipalities to follow. In April 2019, the Constitutional Court declared the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Act, 2011 invalid [because it was incorrectly tagged as an bill not affecting the provinces (section 75 bill) when it should have been tagged as a bill affecting the provinces (section 76 bill)]. The proposed amendments introduced today were the same as those that had been introduced in 2011.

Section 44(a) made provision for the appointment of all senior managers at municipalities. It laid out the criteria and process for when senior managers were appointed. He emphasised the importance of inserting this section because in its absence, municipalities could appoint anyone with misrepresented qualifications. Inserting this section would make it compulsory for municipal and senior managers in acting positions to demonstrate their levels of expertise for competent and good governance.

Section 37 required municipal and senior managers to sign appointment contracts and performance contracts. In the absence of these contracts, their appointments were not in line with legislative framework.

Section 37(a) stated that senior managers found guilty of misconduct may not be allowed to work at a different municipality. In the instance where a person jumps ship before an investigative enquiry concludes, that person is ineligible to be appointed at a new municipality. In the absence of this clause, it is very likely that someone who has been found guilty of misconduct will be appointed at a different municipality.

Section 59(a) gave the Minister the power to determine the salary package of municipal senior managers. Without this clause, municipal senior managers may internally negotiate and come up with a salary amount as they see fit.

Section 66 dealt with staff establishment. The clause had emerged the Department's observations that some municipal appointees were occupying positions that did not exist in the municipal establishment. This section made it illegal and put a stop to such misconduct.

Section 106 would give the Minister the power to investigate cases of alleged misconduct or big financial misconduct where the MEC has not taken sufficient action.

The liability clause stated that any councillor who took a decision to vote in favour of an illegal decision of a council would be held personally liable for that decision.

Section 56(a) laid out the limitation of rights for municipal senior managers.

Discussion
Mr C Brink (DA) commented that it was a bit difficult to comment on the proposed amendments because there was about to be a National Assembly plenary session.

The Chairperson agreed and commented that the Committee would need time to engage properly.

Ms T Marawu (ATM) remarked that there was instability in some municipalities where senior managers had been appointed by the MEC. It caused chaos in those municipalities and she asked for the Department’s intervention as soon as possible. It also caused repeated court cases. Some municipalities under-performed due to this instability.

The Chairperson said that no other matters will be raised in this meeting. He wanted the Committee to attend to the Amendment Bill after Members had attended the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) meeting.

Ms Marawu recommended all Members attend SCOPA to learn from it and better their oversight function.

Mr Brink agreed with that recommendation

Meeting adjourned.

 

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