Thank you, Deputy Speaker. And thank you to all members for supporting this important piece of legislation. As we have indicated, this is consequential to us having made adjustments to the Adjustments Appropriation. However, several pertinent points have been raised by members.
Mr Sogoni, the chairperson, raised the matter of the review of the equitable share. Indeed, there is a process under way to reform the formula and it deals with challenges in both urban and rural areas.
Also, the issue of the baseline share is not the only challenge that municipalities face. They also face the issue of being required to improve their own revenue collection.
The issue of the funding of district municipalities also needs to be informed by the functions that they need to perform. The roles and responsibilities between the local and district municipalities remain a challenge at the moment.
Mr Swart, I agree with you that all steps must be taken to ensure that conditional grants are correctly spent. National transferring officers responsible for grants should use the mechanisms provided for in the Division of Revenue Act, including starting with the building of capacity in municipalities to spend the funds efficiently and effectively.
However, there could also be a need to delay and withhold the allocations, as we have done in the past, in order to ensure that funds are only transferred as and when that should be done. Mr Ramatlakane raised the issue of the devolution of the property rates fund grant that goes to provinces to allow them to pay municipal rates and services, which were formerly paid by the Department of Public Works. This grant will remain in place until the required level of funding is fully understood. It is not meant to deal with the inefficiencies of property rates collection by municipalities.
The issue of rollovers versus spending was raised. Rollovers are dealt with through a very rigorous process. We do not just allow for there to be rollovers. Steps are taken to ensure that monies are spent in the year allocated. Should there be a need for rollovers, they go through a process in which we actually ensure that it is only funds that have been committed and that have not been spent and that there were good reasons for those funds not being spent. It is only then that they are approved.
Mr Ntapane raised the issue of municipalities and provinces having a dismal track record. Hon member, government is committed to ensuring improved service delivery. Targets set in the outcomes will also go a long way towards dealing with the issue of improving service delivery.
The Minister, on tabling the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, also tabled some drastic steps that we have put in place and that we are considering in order to address corruption, even though much has been done to get clean and accountable government.
I think it would be appropriate just to thank the members for giving their support. As Mr Van der Merwe indicated, Ke batla ho tsamaya [I want to go]. [Laughter.] Thank you very much, Deputy Speaker. [Applause.]