By OBAKENG MAJE
Embattled Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality is bound to lose a portion of its R678 million allocation grant. This follows a letter from the national treasury to the municipality, informing it of its intention to halt the funds due to non-compliance of the Water Service Infrastructure Grant (WSIG) and the Regional Bulk Infrastructure grant (RBIG).
In the letter dated 15 February 2022, the national treasury Deputy Director-General in Intergovernmental Relations, Ngqaleni Malijeng said the National Treasury had informed the municipality about the intention to stop an amount of R36.9 million and R183.3 million from their 2021/22 WSIG, RBIG allocations of R66.9 million and R458.3 million respectively in terms of Section 18 of the 2021 Division of Revenue Act of 2021 (DoRA).
“Following the 2021/22 mid-year expenditure reports in terms of Section 10 of the 2021 Division of Revenue Act, (Act No. 9 of 2021) (DoRA) and Section 72 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (Act No. 56 of 2003) (MFMA), National Treasury intends invoking Section 18 of DoRA.
“It is the National Treasury’s prerequisite to decide whether the grant should be stopped or not after the municipality substantially under-spends its allocation. The National Treasury hereby proposes that a portion of the 2021/22 allocation to the municipality in respect of the WSIG and the RBIG as gazette in the 2021 DoRA be stopped due to under performance of the grant allocations,” she said.
However, Malijeng said the decision will not in any way affect future allocations to the municipality. She further said the municipality is requested in a response to motivate the National Treasury on why expenditure reported as at 31 December 2021 is below 45%.
According to the letter, the municipality was, among other things, requested to submit a progress report against approved projects, submit its representation on the cash coverage for grants transferred, representation on the initial cash flow projections against actual performance and submit a progress report on any approved rolled over for 2020/21 financial year.
The municipality was also requested to commit that the allocated funds are committed and that they will be fully spent by the end of the financial year, 30 June 2022.
“The municipality is also requested to make a commitment that the it will not request roll-over against the proposed stopped funds and submit a presentation on all projects awarded after the second quarter of the municipal financial year as at 31 December 2021,” said Ngqaleni.
The municipality was expected to respond within seven days after receiving the letter.
Meanwhile, the North West MEC for Treasury, Motlalepula Rosho said: “We have noted a letter from the National Treasury with great concern. Our department will work together with the municipality to ensure it meets the deadline for submission of a comprehensive response and protect funding, which is meant for service delivery.
“It is our understanding that the municipality is expected to make representation to the National Treasury and on the basis of the evaluation of the reasons. The final determination would be made and as such, the Provincial Treasury working with CoGTA, will be providing the necessary support to the municipality so as to fulfil this assignment.”
The Executive Mayor of the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality, Tebogo Bauile alleged that he had not received the letter yet and he will not comment further.
The ANC Chief Whip of the North West Provincial Legislature (NWPL), Paul Sebegoe called for decisive leadership and accountability to deal with challenges facing municipalities in order to build institutions that are sustainable, efficient and free of corruption.
“There must be a total departure from dysfunctional rooted in poor governance, weak institutional capacity, poor financial management, corruption and political instability in order to entrench good governance and accelerate service delivery.
“Consequence Management and our ability to hold transgressors responsible for looting of public resources accountable must redefine the 6th term of municipal administration and reposition us to reclaim the electoral support we have lost during the 1 November 2021 Local Government Elections.”
The Guardian 