BUDGETARY REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS, DATED 28OCTOBER 2014

The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, having considered the performance and submission ofthe Departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairsto National Treasury for the medium term period, reports as follows:

 

1.     Introduction

 

1.1.         Mandate of Committee

 

As a Committee of the National Assembly, as provided in Chapter 4 of the Constitution of South Africa, and in accordance with the Rules of the National Assembly, the Committee is mandated to:

 

·         Consider, amend, approve or reject legislation;

·         Consider and approve budgets and monitor expenditure of the Department and entities reporting to it;

·         Consider progress reports from line-function departments, and provincial and local government authorities and entities on their respective mandates;

·         Ensure that all appropriate executive organs of state are held accountable for their actions; and

·         Conduct oversight over the national executive authority and any other organ of state.

 

1.2.         Description of core functions of the Department.

 

The aim of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is to improve cooperative governance across the three spheres of government in partnership with institutions of traditional leadership to ensure that provinces and municipalities carry out their service delivery and development functions effectively.

 

In accordance with the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act (2005), the Municipal Property Rates Act (2004), the Municipal Systems Act (2000) and the Municipal Structures Act (1998), the Department is mandated to:

 

·         Develop, monitor and support the implementation of national policy and legislation, seeking to transform and strengthen key institutions  and mechanisms of governance to fulfil their development role;

·         Develop, promote and monitor mechanisms, systems and structures to enable integrated service delivery and implementation within government; and

·         Promote sustainable development by providing support to and exercising oversight over provincial and local government.

 

The Department’s aim and mandates underpins its three strategic priorities over the medium term, which are to:

 

·         Strengthen accountability, governance and oversight of provincial and local government;

·         Facilitate local economic development and improve access to basic services; and

·         Develop a policy platform for a differential approach to municipalities.

 

The Department also oversees the following entities:

 

·         The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, which promotes and protects cultural, religious and linguistic rights.

·         The Municipal Demarcation Board, an independent authority responsible for determining municipal boundaries and also mandated to declare district management areas, delimit wards for local elections, and assess the capacity of municipalities to perform their functions.

·         The South African Local Government Association, which is mandated by the Constitution to assist in the comprehensive transformation of local government

·         The Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent, which is mandated to render technical advice and support to municipalities, as well as strengthen their capacity to provide access to basic services. However, during the financial year under review, the Department still accounted for MISA.

 

1.3.         Purpose of the BRR Report

 

The Money Bills Procedures and Related Matters Amendment Act (Act 9 of 2009) sets out the process that allows Parliament to make recommendations to the Minister of Finance to amend the budget of a national department. In October of each year, portfolio committees must compile Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports (BRRR) that assess service delivery performance given available resources; evaluate the effective and efficient use and forward allocation of resources; and may make recommendations on forward use of resources. The BRRR are also source documents for the Standing/Select Committees on Appropriations/Finance when they make recommendations to the Houses of Parliament on the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). The comprehensive review and analysis of the previous financial year’s performance, as well as performance to date, form part of this process.

 

1.4.         Method

 

This Report assesses the service delivery and financial performance of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and its entities for the 2013/14 and 2014/15 (until October 2014) financial years. This assessment is informed by committee briefings and other sources of information.

 

 

1.5.         Outline of the contents of the Report

 

The rest of the Report proceeds as follows: section 2 provides an overview of key policy focus areas on cooperative governance and traditional affairs during the period under review; a summary of previous key financial and performance recommendations of the Portfolio Committee on COGTA is presented in section 3; section 4 providesan overview and assessment of reportedfinancial and service delivery performance for 2013/14 and 2014/15; Section 5presents the Portfolio Committee’s observations and responses on COGTA’s technical, governance, service delivery and financial performance issues; a summary of additional reporting requests by the Portfolio Committee is tabulated in section 6; and recommendations in section 7 conclude the Report.

 

2.     Overview of the key relevant policy focus areas

 

Government’s medium term strategic framework (MTSF)for the period 2014 – 2019 sets down the priorities for structural reform over this period. As recently articulated in the 2014 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), these include:

 

·         Building the capacity of the public sector, particularly at local government level, through the ‘back to basics’ approach, focused on improving service delivery, accountability and financial management; and

·         Reshaping South Africa’surban environment through integrated spatial planning and expansion of the municipal debt market

 

The MTSF priorities give expression to the key priorities of the National Development Plan, whose achievement depends on an economy that is growing rapidly over an extended period of time. Public spending is the necessary foundation for this growth, and in this regard government is focusing on several policy goals. These include creating dynamic cities by fostering well-planned and well-managed urbanisation and reforming the structure and conditions of infrastructure grants to local government. Government is providing support to enable cities to promote growth and urban transformation by means of:

 

·         A project preparation facility that helps municipalities prepare plans that are ready for implementation;

·         An infrastructure delivery mechanism that is being expanded from provinces to large cities; and

·         Technical assistance that will support the review of municipal borrowing strategies.

 

Over the next three years, R560 billion (inclusive of the local government equitable share) has been made available for service delivery and municipal infrastructure development, among other things. Strong spending growth is also envisaged for the Community Work Programme (CWP), which will be rolled out to every municipality by 2017. All these policy thrusts are fundamental to, and impact directly on, the mandates of the Department of Cooperative Governance, the South African Local Government Association, and the Municipal Demarcation Board.

 

3.     Summary of previous key financial and performance recommendations of Committee

 

3.1.         2012/13 BRRR recommendations and responses by the Department

 

With respect to the 2012/13 BRRR recommendations, the Portfolio Committee only received the following report from the Department:

 

INPUTS FOR THE REPORT ON 2012/13 GOGTA BUDGETARY REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION REPORT (BRRR) OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE

 

With reference to the report from Parliament dated 21 October 2013, kindly receive the following progress in respect of the Financial Management aspects raised in the 2012/13 BRRR Report of the Port Folio Committee:

 

Observation

Recommendation

Timeframe

Progress

The Committee notes that the Department of Traditional Affairs is still reflected as a separate Programme (Programme 7) in Vote 3-

The Committee recommends that the matter be finalised in consultations with the National Treasury to create a separate vote for DTA as matter of agency.

 

Implementation by the end of the next financial year

The Department is in continuous consultation with the National Treasury in this regard.

 

Committee observed that CoGTA obtain an unqualified audit opinion with matters of emphasis mainly due to irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

 

The concerns were also expressed in the previous BRRR of the Portfolio Committee

 

The control- weaknesses experienced in respect of compliance to SCM policies and prescripts are receiving on-going attention while investigations are also underway on control-weaknesses. The Department has developed a detailed Post Audit Action Plan (PAAP) to address the identified control-weaknesses.

The Department was allocated an amount of R54.9 billion, for the 2012/13 financial year. At the end of the third quarter, the Department had spent R38.7 billion or 70.6% of the allocated budget.

The Committee is looking forward for more improvement on the spending patterns of the Department especially considering the 4.8% short of the projected expenditure.

 

There are discussions between the Department and the National Treasury on how best could municipalities be assisted on funds that are withheld due to poor performance of conditional grants.

 

3.2.         Evaluation of response  by Department

 

As the Table on sub-section 3.1 indicates, the Department had only three responses out of the nine directly relevant matters raised in the previous year’s BRR Report. The last two of these response were not part of the Committee’s Recommendations.

 

4.     Overview and assessment of financial performance

 

4.1.         Financial and service delivery performance 2013/14

 

For the 2013/14 period the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs had an available appropriation of R58.5 billion. 96 per cent of this allocation or R56 billion consisted of transfers and subsidies to provinces, municipalities and departmental entities. The Department had an available budget of R2.5 billion for operations. The lion’s share of operational expenditure consisted of payments for participants in the Community Work Programme.[1] The Department spent 96.5 per cent of its total appropriation, thus incurring under-expenditure to the value of R2 057 335 000 billion. This is a substantial increase from the R1 412 259 billion under-expenditure reported in 2012/13 and represents the highest figure compared to all other financial years, beginning from 2007/08.  The under-expenditure largely reflects Local Government Equitable Share allocations (relating mostly to the Municipal Infrastructure Grant) that were withheld from municipalities that did not return unspent funds.

 

4.1.1.     Quarterly spending trends

 

The total expenditure of the Department amounted to R39.743 billion at the end of December 2013, which represented a 68.0 per cent spending rate of the total appropriation of the 2013/14 financial year.

Programme 1: Administration

Expenditure trends: The Programme reflected a 71.7 per cent spending rate at the end of December 2013.  The key cost drivers within the Programme were external audits, operating leases, and property payments.Of the nine sub-programmes that make up the Administration Programme, Financial Services is the only sub-programme that showed a variance between the final appropriation and actual expenditure by the end of the financial year. R27 030 million was spent against a final appropriation of R27 412 million, leaving a balance of R382 000 in under-expenditure. This was the opposite case in the previous financial year where Management was the only sub-programme that showed no variance between appropriated funds and actual expenditure. Overall programme under-expenditure was R22 213 million during this period.

 

Planned targets: The Programme achieved almost all the targets set for the year under review. Only one project was deferred for finalisation during the 2014/15 financial year and this was a monitoring and reporting system for local government, which was to be developed by 31 March 2014.

 

Irregularities and allegations of financial mismanagement: The Department reported that there were irregularities in the Information Technology Infrastructure at the National Disaster Management Centre, and that the Internal Audit assisted with finalising an investigation while the Department is in the process of implementing appropriate disciplinary action. It was also reported that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) received a proclamation on 23 January 2014 to conduct an investigation into allegations of mismanagement of departmental funds by the South African National Cooperative Limited (SANACO).

 

Programme 2: Policy, Research and Knowledge Management (PRKM)

PRKM demonstrated a 61.3 per cent spending rate at the end of December 2013. The low spending was attributed to the delays with the migration from Novell to Microsoft and the renewal of SITA license that are paid in February each year. By 31 March 2014, the Programme recorded under-expenditure to the value of R730 000 due to vacancies not filled on time. The bulk of this under-expenditure fell under the Knowledge and Information Management sub-programme. This is slightly less than the under-expenditure of R1 852 million incurred in 2012/13.


Programme 3: Governance & Intergovernmental Relations

Expenditure trends: The Programme reflected a 70.3 per cent spending rate at the end of December 2013. The low spending was attributed to delays with the start of some planned projects as a result of consultations with different stakeholders.The available amount of R12 billion at the end of December 2013 related to the Local Government Equitable Share for payment to the municipalities in line with the Division of Revenue Act, 2013 (Act 2 of 2013) (DORA) requirements. The low spending was attributed to:

·         Delays with the start of some planned projects as a result of consultations with different stakeholders; and

·         The offsetting of the Local Government Equitable Share in terms of Section 21(4) of DORA in respect of some municipalities in consultation with the National Treasury, which may result in a saving on transfer payments funds allocated to this Programme.

 

By the end of the 2013/14 financial year, the Programme incurred a total under-expenditure of R1 645 285 billion, most of which relates to the withholding of equitable share funds in respect of some municipalities, which did not perform according to the requirements of the Division of Revenue Act. This is a significant increase compared to the R743 948 million incurred in 2012/13. The Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations sub-programme also showed substantial variance, with R11 274 million unspent in 2013/14 compared to R1 852 million in 2012/13. Interestingly, the sub-programme had a much bigger amount to spend (a final appropriation of R142 805 million) during the latter period compared to R26 903 million in 2013/14. The transfer to the South African Cities Network showed a substantial increase, amounting to R11 786 million in 2013/14 compared to R5 540 million in 2012/13.

Ward Committees: Deepening participatory democracy through a refined Ward Committee model is one of the Department’s strategic goals towards realising the vision of an integrated, responsive and highly effective governance system. The Governance and Intergovernmental Relations Programme, which seeks to strengthen the functionality of Ward Committees (among other objectives), gives effect to this strategic goal. The Department reported that as at 31 March 2014, a total of 2 059 ward level operational plans had been developed and were being implemented in 125 local municipalities. Government’s Twenty Year Review has noted that ward committees have not worked as intended, as characterised by the often formulaic and symbolic interactions that ‘have generally not helped to strengthen links between communities and councillors.’[2]

 

Programme 4: National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC)

The Programme had a final appropriation of R694 439 million in 2013/14. It reflected a 26.9 per cent spending rate at the end of December 2013. R488 million (94.6 per cent) of the available amount of R516 million at the end of December 2013 related to the Disaster Relief and the Municipal Disaster Recovery Grants.The low spending was attributed to:

        The finalisation of the movement to the new premises and the effect thereof on related services; and

        The uncertain nature of disasters

 

At the end of the financial year there was a balance of R270 580 million in unspent funds, most of which related to the Disaster Relief sub-programme. R252 870 million of the unspent funds relates to the Provincial Disaster Grant and R17 386 million to the Municipal Disaster Grant. The under-expenditure was not unusual as disaster relief funds are only spent when disasters occur.

Programme 5: Provincial & Municipal Government Systems (PMGS)

The Programme indicated a 96.7 per cent spending rate at the end of December 2013. By the end of the financial year there was no reported variance between the Programme’s final appropriation and actual performance in terms of expenditure. This trend was almost similar to the previous financial year, except that the Management: Provincial and Local Government Support sub-programme reportedly incurred under expenditure to the amount of R139 000 in 2012/13.

Programme 6: Infrastructure and Economic Development (IED)

The Programme reflected a 63.5 per cent spending rate at the end of December 2013. R5 287 billion (88.8 per cent) of the available amount of R5 971 billion at the end of December 2013 related to the Municipal Infrastructure Grant. By the end of the financial year, all the sub-programmes under Infrastructure and Economic Development showed a variance between the final appropriation and the actual performance in terms of expenditure. Consequently, the Programme underspent its allocation by R140 358 million, which is slightly less compared to R209 902 million in 2012/13. The bulk of the unspent funds related to the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (R130 084 million) and the Community Work Programme (R9 619 million).The MIG fund was stopped for those municipalities that reported an expenditure of 30 per cent and below of their 2013/14 MIG allocation as at end January 2014.The under expenditure on the MIG was an increase from the R2 471 million recorded in 2012/13, while that of the CWP showed a decrease from R158 955 million in 2012/13.

Programme 6.1: Community Work Programme (CWP)

Expenditure trends: The Community Work Programme reflected a 67 per cent spending rate at the end of December 2013. The sub-programme received roll-over funds which were planned to be spent in February and March 2014. The key cost drivers within CWP were wage costs, material costs, project management and material costs. The low spending was attributed to municipal sites that were established later in the 2013/14 financial year. While noting improvements in the internal controls of the Department during the financial year under review, the Audit Committee has raised concerns regarding the monitoring and evaluation of the CWP sub-programme. An independent consulting firm also conducted a forensic investigation, based on a number of allegations and complaints regarding the implementation of the CWP. This related to procurement and irregularities in the awarding of the tender to lead agents as well as the validity of participants.These irregularities amounted to R356 703 million. In 2012/13 an amount of R418 600 million relating to a CWP contract was detailed as an irregular expenditure not recoverable (not condoned). With the approval of National Treasury, R804 617 million in irregular expenditure had to be written off as no official was found liable for this expenditure.

Programme 6.2: Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA)

59.8 per cent of the available budget of R262 040 million was paid to and in respect of MISA up to the end of December 2013.The slow spending was attributed to the progressive operationalization of MISA to function independently as a government component.During the financial year under review, the MISA, previously a sub-programme under the Infrastructure and Economic Development Programme, became an independent entity with effect from May 2013. The Audit Committee has also raised concerns regarding the functionality and legal status of the entity.The sub-programme also incurred fruitless and wasteful expenditure amounting to R328 000.

 

Programme 7: Traditional Affairs (DTA)

The total DTA expenditure amounted to R111 702 million for the period under review. DTA reflects a 76.2 per cent spending rate at the end of December 2013.There was no reported variance between actual expenditure and the final appropriation.The DTA has attained most of the targets it had set out achieve in the 2013/14 Annual Performance Plan. However there is still much room for improvement in relation to the National Traditional Affairs Amendment Bill.

 

Conditions of Service for Traditional Leaders: In 2013/14 the Department had undertaken to engage in ‘consultation on norms and standards for tools of trade for the institution of traditional leadership to address inconsistencies across provinces.’[3] The inequities in ‘tools of trade’ had also been a major area of contention when the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Leadership met with traditional leaders in King Sabatha Dalindyebo Municipality in the Eastern Cape towards the end of the 4th term of Parliament. Both the Annual Report and the DTA’s Strategic Plan 2014 – 2019 made reference to the ‘development and adoption by all stakeholdersof the Framework for tools of trade for traditional leaders’[4] in 2013/14. Parliament appears not to have been involved in the development and adoption of the Framework for Tools of Trade for Traditional Leaders.

 

4.1.2.     Auditor-General Reports

 

For the period under review, the Department received an unqualified audit opinion with findings on the usefulness and reliability of performance information and non-compliance with certain laws and regulations. In particular, the Report of the Auditor-General noted that the Department did not have adequate monitoring systems in place to ensure that all supporting records of attendance registers, registration forms and contracts for the Community Work Programme are maintained. Consequently performance data on the CWP could not be verified.

 

For the second year in succession, SALGA achieved a ‘clean audit’, which is a welcome departure from the era of disclaimers in 2004/05, 2005/06 and 2006/07.The MDB has received an unqualified audit opinion for the period under review, which is short of the clean audit it had targeted, because the Auditor-General raised emphasis of matter relating to incidences of irregular expenditure.[5]The CRL Commission has also received an unqualified audit opinion.

 

4.2.         Financial performance 2014/15

 

·         Quarterly spending trends

 

Between April and September 2014, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs had spent R23.4 billion (or 36.5 per cent) of its R63.4 billon allocation for the 2014/15 financial year.

 

·         Reported spending pressures.

 

a)     Effective and efficient management and administration of the CWP, including providing and maintaining 1 million work opportunities in all municipalities.

b)    Strengthening the capacity of municipalities to deliver sustainable infrastructure and increase access to basic services through the ‘back to basics’ approach, including provision of free basic services to the poor.

 

4.2.1.     Key reported achievements

 

·         Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

 

The period under review marks twenty years of democratic government in South Africa, which has seen an impressive record of expansion of service delivery. As some academics have noted ‘basic service delivery has been extended to the marginalised to a degree that is unprecedented in South Africa’s history, at a pace that is noted and commended internationally.’[6] A ‘close of term report presented to Cabinet reveals that households with access to water now stands at 95 per cent, up from 92 per cent in 2009.’[7] 86 per cent of households now have access to electricity, though this remains short of the targeted 92 per cent by the end of 2014. By September 2013, 86 per cent of households had access to sanitation – an increase from 81 per cent in 2009 – while households with access to refuse removal increased to 72 per cent.[8]

 

·         South African Local Government Association

 

Assignment of housing function to six metropolitan municipalities: During the year under review, SALGA successfully lobbied and advocated for the assignment of the housing function to Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Bay, Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and EThekwini metropolitan municipalities.  Consequent from SALGA’s submission to the Local Government Budget Forum in October 2013, a new conditional grant (the municipal human settlements capacity grant) for the six metros was introduced into the 2014/15 budget.

 

Clean audits: SALGA’s achievement of clean audits in 2012/13 and 2013/14 marked it as a credible voice in campaigning for clean audits in the local government sector.

 

4.2.2.     Key reported challenges

 

·         Despite departmental efforts at monitoring and supporting municipalities to fill critical posts with suitably qualified and competent persons, some municipalities have continued to fill such posts without due regard to the regulations on minimum competency requirements. The Systems Act requires the MEC to take appropriate steps to enforce compliance which may include an application to court for a declaratory order on the validity of the appointment.  If the MEC fails to do this the Minister may take the same steps. 

·         The intermittent departmental restructuring processes have resulted in the loss of critical skills and the shrinking of the staff establishment, thereby rendering the department unable to deliver on its mandate. The Department is engaging with the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) and the National Treasury to review DCoG’s organizational structure and the financial requirements to address the above.

·         There are limited human and financial resources to develop and maintain systems and processes necessary for the enhancement of COGTA’s ability to fulfill its role as a champion of cooperative governance.

·         All the entities reporting to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs reported that they were not adequately funded, which hindered their ability to fulfil mandates.

 

5.     key committee observations

 

·         Governance and operational issues

 

‘Back-to-basics’ approach: During the period under review the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs introduced the ‘back to basics’ concept. This is aimed at getting the basics right in municipalities, guided by five basic principles:

 

a)     Putting people first by listening and communication;

b)    Adequate and community-oriented service provision;

c)     Good governance and transparent administration;

d)    Sound financial management and accounting; and

e)     Robust institutions with skilled and capable staff.

 

The Committee welcomes the ‘back to basics’ initiative and envisages that this will contribute to building the capacity of the public sector in general, and local government in particular, in relation to issues of service delivery, accountability and financial management. However, the Committee has noted that provincial government, a key sphere that also faces problems, has been somewhat left out. The Committee hopes that the much needed focus on local government would not be at the expense of overlooking the building of capacity in provinces.

 

·         Service delivery performance

 

Traditional Affairs: While impressed with the achievements of the Department of Traditional Affairs during the year under review, the Committee felt that these tended to be high level achievements whose impact did not seem to cascade down to traditional communities.

 

Death of initiates: The Committee noted with concern the recurring death of initiates in the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape. It noted that addressing this problem required not only collaboration between the relevant parliamentary committees and traditional leaders but also the involvement of the community, including the parents of the initiates.

 

Bucket system eradication: The Committee noted with concern that the amount of buckets eradicated in previous financial year was very low and that more should be done to address this problem. However the Committee noted that this was a complex problem and an important component to resolving it is linked to functional water and sanitation systems.

 

Non-financial survey of municipalities: The Committee noted the findings of the non-financial survey of municipalities, released by Statistics South Africa in August 2014, for the financial year ending in June 2013. In particular it noted the reported increased access to municipal water, electricity, sewerage and sanitation, and solid waste management services.

 

Municipal Infrastructure Grant: The Committee noted that in municipalities with non-functional Project Management Units (PMUs) MIG funds tend not to be spent. The Committee noted the Department’s envisaged initiative to strengthen the capacity ofmunicipalities including providing support to all municipalities that spent less than 80 per cent of the MIG in the previous financial year. The Committee also noted with concern cases of municipalities that still use their MIG allocation to finance operational expenses. The Committee welcomed the announcement that it will soon be permissible to use 7% percent of the MIG for infrastructure maintenance.

 

·         Financial performance including funding proposals

 

Review of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant: The Committee has expressed some concerns regarding Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) expenditure. It had previously recommended that the Department provides a roll out plan on steps to improve MIG spending in those municipalities not covered by the MISA programme. In this regard, the Committee welcomes the review of the MIG currently underway and hopes that reforms to grants will improve the uptake of available resources for social infrastructure.

 

Funding for South African Local Government Association: The Committee has noted that SALGA’s allocation from the national fiscus will decrease to R9 255 000 million in 2015/16 and subsequently be discontinued from 2016/17. This a consequence of government’s fiscal package to reinforce sustainability, including reducing growth in spending, which will result in, among other things, reduced rates of growth in transfers to public entities, particularly those with cash reserves. While concerned about this development, the Committee also recognised that SALGA had operating surpluses of R35.8 million and R31.3 million in 2012/13 and 2013/14 respectively, which are above the entity’s allocation from the national fiscus. The Committee also expressed a concern about the unsustainable remuneration levels of the senior management echelon of the organisation, as well as the inequitable remuneration gap between the higher and lower salary bands.

 

Funding for the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities: The Commission requested an additional R29 million to augment its current allocation in order expand the reach of its work. The Commission has received R34.9 million for the current financial year. The requested additional funding would almost double the Commission’s current allocation. However, the Committee felt that the request for additional funds needs to be adequately substantiated.

 

6.     table of committee’s reporting requests

 

Reporting matter

Action required

Timeframe

Suspension of the MDB CEO

Report to  be provided to the Committee on progress in resolving the matter

Before Parliament rises

Monitoring and evaluation of municipalities

The Department should report to the Committee on a quarterly basis on their monitoring and evaluation of municipalities so that the Committee can address these challenges proactively.

 

Quarterly

Project Management Units

The Department should present a plan to assist those municipalities that do not have functional Project Management Units (PMUs) as well as a plan to address the use of conditional grant funding for non-approved purposes.

 

March 2015

Forensic reports

The Department should provide the Committee access to all the forensic reports received from municipalities

March 2015

MISA

The Department should report to the Committee on its plan to ensure that MISA is properly constituted

March 2015

 

 

7.     Recommendations

 

7.1.         Financial performance including forward funding recommendations

 

·         Local government funding model: The local government funding model, and in particular the equitable share allocations, should be reviewed.

 

7.2.         Performance related recommendations

 

·         Monitoring expenditure of MIG:An instrument to monitor expenditure on the MIG should be developed and a report on this should be provided to the Committee on a quarterly basis.

·         SMART principle:More effort should be put on ensuring that the performance indicators implemented by the Department and its entities are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reliable and Time-bound.

 

 

 

 

8.     Appreciation

 

For fruitful, cordial and constructive engagements the Committee thanks the Departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, SALGA, the Municipal Demarcation Board, the CRL Rights Commission, the Office of the Auditor-General, and National Treasury, among others. The contributions of Committee Members, as well as Committee Staff, are also gratefully acknowledged.

 

Report to be considered.

 


 

references

 

Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. (2014). Annual Report 2013/14. COGTA. Pretoria.

 

Department of Traditional Affairs. (2013). Presentation on 2013/14 Annual Performance Plan (including progress made on targets set in the 2012/13 Annual Performance Plan). Parliament. Cape Town. 16 April 2013.

 

De Visser, J. (2009). ‘Developmental Local Government in South Africa: Institutional Fault Lines.’ Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance. Vol.2

 

Municipal Demarcation Board. (2014). Annual Report 2013/14. MDB. Pretoria.

 

National Treasury. (2014). Standing Committee on Appropriations: 4th Quarter Expenditure Report, 2013/14 Financial Year. Treasury. Pretoria.

 

National Treasury. (2014). Medium Term Budget Policy Statement. Treasury. Pretoria.

 

The Presidency. (2014). Twenty Year Review South Africa: 1994 – 2014. Presidency. Pretoria.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



[1]Ibid.

[2]Ibid.

[3]Department of Traditional Affairs (2013).

[4]Department of Traditional Affairs (2014).

[5]MDB (2014).

[6]De Visser (2009).

[7]COGTA (2014).

[8]Ibid.