Hon members, I would like to draw your attention to Order No 11 and say that the name of the municipality is "Mkhondo".
Chairperson and the House, once again the report will cover the two municipalities at the same time. The Select Committee on Co- operative Governance undertook an oversight visit to Mkhondo Local Municipality and Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality in North West and Mpumalanga respectively on the 12th and 13th of November.
This was based on the resolution of the provincial executive council of the respective provinces to intervene in the affairs of the two municipalities in terms of section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution. If a municipality cannot or does not fulfil its executive obligation, in terms of the Constitution and legislation, the relevant provincial executive may intervene by taking appropriate steps to ensure the fulfilment of that obligation, including assuming responsibility of the relevant obligation.
Hon Bloem, you are causing a disturbance there.
The main objective of the visit by the committee was to determine whether procedural requirements were met in the application of this Act; to verify whether the provincial executive had used its discretionary powers appropriately; and determine how the provincial executive intends to restore the fulfilment of the relevant obligation and ensure long-term sustainability in that regard. The main issues identified at Mkhondo Local Municipality are the following: The municipality effectively failed in its constitutional obligation, did not have a clear plan and the integrated development plan and the service delivery and budget implementation plans, SDBIP, were not connected. They were scattered. In fact, there was no adherence to the trinity of budget, IDP and performance systems.
The IDP and the SDBIP appeared to exist outside of what is required by law. Performance management measures were largely activity-centred. They were not centred or linked to service delivery as required by law.
Furthermore, the committee found poor service delivery, loss of governance control, poor management, anomalies in supply chain management and corruption and internal squabbles that arose out of political quarrels and competitions. These are the issues, amongst other things, that were found at Mkhondo Local Municipality.
The other critical issue is that five wards, as we speak, still need serious political intervention as they are like a no-go zone, politically. We also have to recommend to the provincial executive that they step up the efforts of what can be done on a daily basis to ensure stability. As things stand now, we might go beyond the six months' determination of intervention without solving major things that we need to see on the ground.
The main issues that we found at Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality are the following. The municipality operated beyond its constitutional and legislative mandate. There are dysfunctional political governance structures. The approval of the salary adjustment agreement between the former municipal manager and the mayor, together with the SA Municipal Workers' Union, was totally outside of the national collective bargaining agreement which, in terms of the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, is in breach of compliance with financial systems.
There is one point that needs to be emphasised, namely that once this matter has been resolved, in terms of the eyes of the community, the municipality will drift towards stability. I'm sure everyone knows that where there is money, there is a problem.
There was also noncompliance with legislative provisions governing local government as a sphere; irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure; the breakdown of service delivery and instability caused by mismanagement of union strikes and the dismissal of the municipal manager; and allegations of fraud, corruption and mismanagement. You would know that this is the municipality which was in the newspapers for sending the soccer squad to Brazil for training.
The other things that are general to both the two municipalities is that they need serious capacity-building and training, particularly for councillors to understand the following pieces of legislation: the functions of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, which is a political tool to guide councillors; the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, which is an implementation tool that guides management and administration; and the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, which is very elaborative and only needs to be followed like the Ten Commandments. Those who believe in the Bible can do these things.
Other issues on which more training is needed can be detected, but these are the major things on which we need to engage the provincial executive to ensure that there is compliance. The ward committees also need to be strengthened, precisely because if they are weak, communication and public participation suffer and that is a case in point at both municipalities.
At Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality the political organisation has intervened and we have a new mayor who has already been there for two months. What worried the committee, and we cannot hide it because the premise of oversight is to engage primarily with the administrator who is there in terms of section 139, is that when we arrived there, the administrator was not there and there was no apology. The committee summoned the administrator and he was there that day, and we did engage with him to get what we wanted. But we condemned his absence as undermining the authority of Parliament as the highest institution in the land. Our recommendations are that the House should approve the necessary interventions in both municipalities. Remember that we are an oversight and not an executive authority and can only recommend that the House accept our recommendations. We are within 181 days, as the NCOP, to engage on this matter and therefore within the law.
Secondly, we recommend that the House approves that the provincial executive should further look at extending the intervention precisely because the one intervention period ends in December this year and the other in January and, in terms of assessment, more still has to be done. Generally section 57 is not in place in both municipalities; if not one, two.
We further recommend that the provincial executive of the North West province engages in a further extension. The duration will depend on how the committee engages with them - either for the suggested three or six months, but this can be further engaged on to understand what will happen.
In addition, it is recommended that the appointment of municipal managers in terms of section 57 in both municipalities be fast-tracked and that the provincial executive put structures in place that would, on a weekly basis, do monitoring. Otherwise it will be compliance just for the sake of applying section 139 without yielding results.
We also further request that Salga intervene in terms of training. They were with us and noted what it is that they are supposed to be doing. Therefore the portfolio committee wishes the House to approve this report with matters that have been raised and other matters that still need to be engaged with in order to comply with section 139. Thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Question put: That the Report on Oversight Visit: Intervention in Mkhondo Local Municipality be adopted.
IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.
Report on Oversight Visit: Intervention in Mkhondo Local Municipality accordingly adopted in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
Question put: That the Report on Oversight Visit: Intervention in Ngaka Modiri Molema Municipality be adopted.
IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.
Report on Oversight Visit: Intervention in Ngaka Modiri Molema Municipality accordingly adopted in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.