With reference to the intervention into the administration and governance of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality in terms of section 139(7) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, what progress has been made in respect of revenue and expenditure management?
Revenue Management
As part of revenue raising mechanisms, the Intervention Team will be undertaking stakeholder engagement including Premier’s Office and Public Works to discuss and agree on payment arrangement of outstanding debt owed to the Municipality by government departments.
Regarding disconnection of water services and collections, the Municipality has insufficient institutional capacity and resources to execute disconnections. Therefore, the Intervention Team will source expertise ...
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With reference to the intervention into the administration and governance of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality in terms of section 139(7) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, what progress has been made to address the failure of the municipality to render basic services in respect of the (a) maintenance of roads and (b) removal of solid waste on a sustainable basis?
a) Maintenance of Roads
The current road infrastructure network is in a very poor state within the Municipality and maintenance needs to be prioritised. On 02 May 2022, The Acting HOD: Engineering Services commenced his services, and the critical road maintenance areas were identified for urgent attention and priority. Road maintenance is dependent on a fully functioning fleet department within the municipality which is ...
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(1)With reference to the fixed property situated on the banks of the Thukela River at Ezakeni in the Alfred Duma Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal on which the UThukela District Municipality pump station and water purification works is located, what are the details of the (a) owners of the fixed property on which the pump station and water works are built, (b) legally enforceable contract for the use of the property by the UThukela District Municipality and (c) rentals payable to the owners of the property;
(2) whether the pump station and water purification works are national key points; if not why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
The reply below was provided by UThukela District Municipality:
1. The Ownership of Zakheni Water Treatment
(a) Ownership of specified property
The plant is owned and operated by uThukela District Municipality (WSA)
(b) Legal Contract for the use of the property
By virtue, the plant was transferred from Local Municipality to the (WSA) and therefore the ...
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What (a) led to the collapse of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality where section 139 of the Constitution of the Republic, 1996, was evoked, (b) are the names of the persons who were responsible for the dysfunction of the municipality and (c) consequence management has been applied to the specified persons?
a) The Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM) was officially placed under section 139(5)(a) and (c) intervention by the Free State Provincial Executive Council on 19 December 2019, due to a financial and service delivery crisis in the municipality. However, no significant progress has been made to implement the Financial Recovery Plan developed by National Treasury as a result of significant political interference in the administrative ...
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Whether she will issue a statement on the improvement of the (a) 89 unqualified municipal audits, (b) 66 qualified, (c) 6 adverse audits and (d) 12 disclaimers; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?
Subsequent to the release of the 2020/21 Local Government Audit Outcomes by the Auditor General of South Africa, we issued a media release on 15 June 2022. We noted the improvements in the number of municipalities with unqualified audit outcomes. In addition we outlined the department’s position and interventions in place to assist under-performing municipalities.
The media release is attached herewith as annexure A.
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What measures has her department taken against municipalities, such as the Sekhukhune District Municipality, that have returned money that was meant for service delivery to the National Treasury?
It is recommended that the question be transferred to the National Treasury as they have overview of the funds returned by the municipalities, causes of the inability to spend their budgets and the corrective measures to deal with this challenge.
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In light of the fact that the National Treasury divides conditional grants to municipalities in each financial year in terms of the equitable shares, what (a) are the impediments that prevent the provision of water, roads, toilets and streetlights in the (i) Dr J S Moroka Local Municipality, (ii) Amathole District Municipality, (iii) Phokwane Local Municipality and (iv) Bela-Bela Local Municipality, (b) oversight and monitoring mechanisms have been undertaken in the specified rural areas, (c) are the time frames for sending engineers to the areas and (d) are the reasons that it has taken long to deliver on the services?
The department is currently obtaining the responses from the abovementioned munucipalities and we will provide response as soon as we receive it.
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Whether (a) her department and (b) any of the entities reporting to her have found any ghost workers within their system in the past five years; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what (i) total number of ghost workers was discovered, (ii) total amount was paid to them and (iii) steps have been taken to (aa) recover the money lost and (bb) hold the offending parties accountable?
a. Department of Cooperative Governance & MISA
During the last five years, the Department has found no ghost workers within its system. No ghost employees were found within the Department of Cooperative Governance and MISA in the past five years. The department and MISA conducts regular employee verification and ensures payroll certification by employees monthly.
b.Community Work Programme
(i) & (ii) The Department identified ...
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(1)With regard to the assassination of traditional leaders in KwaZulu-Natal that has become an alarming matter requiring urgent attention, and in view of the fact that residents are being robbed of the traditional leaders’ valuable leadership skills, what action has the Department of Traditional Affairs taken to address the surge in the killing of traditional leaders;
(2) whether she has taken any steps to open a formal commission of inquiry into the killings, as has been repeatedly called for by the Inkatha Freedom Party; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the details of the time frames in this regard;
(3) what total number of arrests have been made since 2012, relating to the killing of traditional leaders? NW2549E
1. Government is extremely concerned about the killing of traditional leaders, I have requested the Minister of Police to put together a team to investigate this matter. We have also raised the matter with the Kwa-Zulu Natal CoGTA and they have advised that they are collaborating with law enforcement agencies. A number of interventions have been effected including entering into a Memorandum of Understanding ...
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(1) Whether, with regard to the R17 million bridge that was constructed about two years ago in Ha-Lambani Village outside of Thohoyandou that has already developed cracks because of poor workmanship, her department conducted any quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation prior to the hand over; if not, why not; if so, what are the reasons that the faults were not detected;
(2) Whether the contractor has been (a) instructed to redo the work and/or (b) blacklisted; if not, why not; in each case; if so, what are the relevant details, in each case?
1. The bridges project mentioned in PQ 2027 belongs to Thulamela Local Municipality (TLM). The pertinent details of the project are outlined below.
The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) is responsible, in terms of section 154 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996 among others, to provide support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities including TLM to manage ...
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