Report on inspection in loco to Municipalities in North West under Section 139 intervention

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Meeting Summary

The Committee met to consider and adopt reports on the inspection in loco to municipalities in the North West under Section 139 (1) (b) of the Constitution. Members noted that there were similar issues between all the municipalities; these were irregular expenditure and financial mismanagement.

Members expressed concerned about criminal elements in municipalities demanding to be part of projects that they had not tendered for. Members were equally concerned about the safety of the Administrators, and recommended that the Committees’ recommendations should include consequence management.

The Committee was mostly happy about the administrators that were in charge of the municipalities, while some felt that the Administrators were being recycled and the interventions would not work because the appointed Administrators did not know how to do their jobs.

The Committee recommended that the focus of their discussions should be on the details of Section 139 as it was now the main issue that they were handling.

The Reports from the following municipalities were adopted: Tswaing, Leekwa-Tamane, JB Marks and Ratloung. The DA rejected the adoption of the Madibeng Municipality. The Report on the Naledi Municipality could not be adopted because the intervention had expired.

Meeting report

Consideration and adoption of reports

Briefing on the Madibeng Municipality

The Chairperson noted that the Committee was aware of criminals that were intimidating contractors in the municipalities. These criminals also wanted tenders. He said that he was happy about the administrator that had been appointed.

Mr S Mfayela (IFP, KZN) said that the main concern for the Committee is the safety of the administrators.

Ms Z Ncitha (ANC, Eastern Cape) agreed that the safety of administrators is a critical issue and institutions dealing with safety and security need to be engaged. She said that the Council needs to initiate the process of safety.

Mr S Zandamele (EFF, Mpumalanga) said that the safety of the administrators was the Province’s responsibility and the process should be initiated by the Province, not the Council.

Ms C Visser (DA, North West) said that the interventions are not working because the appointed administrators are not able to their jobs.

The Chairperson suggested that the Committee deal with the municipalities on a case-by-case approach instead of a blanket approach.

Ms S Shaikh (ANC, Limpopo) said that a lot rests on the Committee with regard to oversight work.

Mr A Gxoyiya (ANC, Northern Cape) said the Committee must implement time frames with regard to the interventions.

The report was adopted with Ms Visser saying that the Democratic Alliance rejected the report.

Briefing on Tswaing Municipality

The Chairperson noted that the municipality had issues regarding financial management and accepted the intervention. He said the municipality had challenges of service delivery and could not make third parties like medical aid service providers.

Ms Visser rejected the intervention and said that consequence management and accountability must be enforced.

The Chairperson said that the municipalities have similar problems and the Committee would include consequence management recommendations across all the reports.

The report was adopted.

Briefing on Leekwa-Tamane Municipality

The report was adopted.

Briefing on Ratloung Municipality

The report was adopted.

Briefing on JB Marks Municipality

The report was adopted.

Briefing on Naledi Municipality

The Parliamentary Legal Advisor said that it has been more than 180 days and the intervention has expired. Parliament can just note the Report but cannot adopt it. The PEC would have to re-table a notice of intervention to the National Council of Provinces.

The report was noted.

Deliberations on Section 139

Mr Mfayela wanted to know if it was possible for the Committee to go straight to Section 139 (1) (c) instead of going through (1) (a) and (1) (b).

Mr Zandamela said that the issue was the recycling of Administrators. The same people were being appointed as Administrators over and over again.

The Chairperson suggested that the Committee meets the municipalities to fully discuss Section 139 as there was not enough time during the current meeting.

The Chairperson said that the first worst performing municipalities with regard to irregular expenditure have been invited to meet with the Committee.

The meeting was adjourned.

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