Okay but she
pressed, that was a mistake that she pressed, okay. Thank you very much. Then we continue.
Question 305:
The MINISTER OF CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL
AFFAIRS: Hon House Chairperson, the department does not have any legal mechanism to assist municipalities to recover any unauthorised irregular, fruitless or wasteful expenditure incurred. None the less the recent Public
Audit Amendments Act 5 of 2018 amongst others provides for the Auditor- General to issue a certificate of debt where an accounting officer or accounting authority has failed to recover losses from a responsible person or to instruct the relevant executive authority to collect the debt. This will complement the implementation of section 32 of the Municipal Finance Management Act which provides for measures pertaining to the recovery of unauthorised irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure from liable local government officials and politicians.
In terms of which each municipal council has a duty to introduce and adopt policies and processes to prevent, identify and investigate unauthorised irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
We wish to take this opportunity to invite this House of Parliament as well as Houses in the provincial legislatures to assist us in providing oversight with regards to the extent of implementation of these provisions. After all, the business of local government is everybody's business.
In order to empower local councils, the Department of Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in collaboration with the National Treasury and Sa Local Government Association, Salga, have developed a manual, a Municipal Public Accounts Committee, MPAC, guide and toolkit to assist members of MPAC, to perform their oversight responsibilities and other related roles. The MPAC guide and toolkit, aims to improve accountability, transparency, effective and efficient use of public resources in executing municipal functions and thereby improving service delivery.
The department together with the others is currently rolling out training and information sessions of the MPAC guide so that MPACs can exercise their responsibilities effectively, including amongst others investigation of fruitless wasteful unauthorised and expenditure. Reviewing and recommending to council actions relating to the expenditure and conclusion of these expenditures and consequence management processes.
According to the National Treasury information, at the end of 2018-19, the MPAC guide and toolkit have been
rolled out and the total 879 MPAC councillors and 205 municipal officials had been trained countrywide. Thank you.