Chairperson, hon colleagues, I am sure we need to emphasise that the time allocation of five minutes doesn't necessarily imply that these issues are of lesser importance.
Our visit to the Mpumalanga province municipalities was in part informed by the Auditor-General's reports. The committee took a mixture of those municipalities that were best performing and those that were struggling to comply. Nine municipalities, including one district municipality, were involved in our discussions.
Since our approach is always solution-orientated, we had with us the Department of Provincial and Local Government, the Department of Minerals and Energy, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Eskom, National Treasury and the Department of Education in Mpumalanga. Discussions evolved around issues of budget implementation as per the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, intergovernmental relations and a reflection on capacity constraints.
Our interaction brought to the fore some remarkable disparity on the level of capacity among municipalities of the same category in the same province. For instance, Steve Tshwete Local Municipality does not only comply with legislation and policies, but goes further to innovate on the issue of housing. These municipalities challenge us to allocate additional funding for housing. They would, as they boasted, eradicate informal settlements within 24 months, whereas municipalities like Msukaligwa and Albert Luthuli were still struggling to utilise their housing allocations, including conditional grants and the municipal infrastructure grant, in particular.
The issue of revenue generation was a general concern among the local municipalities interviewed, except the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality. The Department of Education was called upon to settle all outstanding bills with municipalities without further delay. On closer scrutiny of the budgets it became apparent that Albert Luthuli and Msukaligwa needed drastic refinement. Their reports indicated that they had their personnel strength at 50% of their organogram, yet this half strength accounted for nearly 40% of the entire budget. Our concern, therefore, was that this expenditure amounted to about 70% of the budget. The two municipalities were advised to subject their organogram to an efficiency assessment.
The Select Committee on Finance continues to engage these municipalities in dealing with the identified challenges. I therefore implore this House to take note of the report as well as its implementation. I thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Question put: That the Report be adopted.
IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.
Report accordingly adopted in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.