By OBAKENG MAJE
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in North West said the avaricious loss of conditional grants amounting to R340 million from the national treasury will cause a heavy blow on service delivery. COSATU’s provincial secretary, Kopano Konopi said, it is disappointing to see municipalities in the province losing their conditional grants due to their poor performance.
Three weeks ago, the minister of finance, Enoch Godongwana wrote a letter to the North West MEC, Nono Maloyi informing him about the decision.
Nine affected municipalities are, the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality, the City of Matlosana, Rustenburg, Moses Kotane, JB Marks, Madibeng, Ratlou, Ditsobotla, and Mamusa local municipalities.
“The money would have gone a long way to provide for the necessary services to the people of the province. These grants are the money that has been earmarked to improve service delivery and to make sure that residents have access to basic services.
“The biggest loser amongst the municipalities is Madibeng local municipality, which has lost money to the tune of R145m. Most of it was earmarked for municipal infrastructure grants,” he said.
Konopi further said, this is disappointing as this happens at a time when the province has a serious service delivery deficit. He added that this is the responsibility of the municipalities to deliver services.
“As COSATU, we view this as a lack of capacity from those who have been deployed to ensure that services are delivered to the people of the province. We also view this dereliction of duty by those who have been employed to provide services to the people of the province.
“So, we call for consequence management on those who are responsible for this loss of grants because we view this not as a loss of money, but a violation to basic human rights. COSATU calls on the ANC as it is the party which governs the majority of the municipalities in the province to rein on their deployees and make them account for this action,” said Konopi.
North West MEC for Finance, Motlalepula Rosho said, they have introduced the Provincial EXCO Representatives to municipalities that are under mandatory intervention to implement Financial Recovery Plans. Rosho said, they have already introduced PERs that have been appointed to lead the eight municipalities that are under mandatory and discretionary intervention to implement the Financial Recovery Plans (FRP).
“The Executive Council resolved to place Naledi, Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality, Madibeng, Kgetlengrivier, Ramotshere Moiloa, Tswaing, Ditsobotla, and Mahikeng, under mandatory intervention in line with Section 139(5) (a) and (c) of the Constitution read together with Section 139 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). Maquassi Hills local municipality has been placed under discretionary intervention.
“The PERs act on behalf of the Executive Council and are placed at each municipality to provide strategic leadership and guidance for the implementation FRP,” she said.
Rosho said the process to appoint the PERs started in 2019 and appointments were effected at the end of the 2022/2023 financial year. She said the PERs have been appointed for a period of 3 years, which involved comprehensive transparent due processes.
“The PERs are required to ensure that municipalities will ultimately create a conducive environment to generate income, comply with financial legislations and improve service delivery.
“The PERs report to Maloyi and me and are required amongst others, to do quality assurance of monthly and quarterly review reports, which will be processed by the MECs for EXCO’s attention,” said Rosho.
She said they are tasked to maintain a record of decision-making processes taken by the municipal councils and accounting officers and ensure appropriate corrective measures and control measures. Rosho said they will also assist in the recruitment and selection processes for the appointment of senior managers and accounting officers, as well as provide strategic participation and stakeholder engagements in the affairs of the municipality.”
Meanwhile, the national treasury’s technical assistant, Keorapetse Tumagole indicated that mindset and culture change is crucial to the success of the implementation of the FRP.
“We are implementing change to achieve a future state that involves a specific desired outcome to ensure that the collapse in service delivery is turned around.
“The PERs must create the desire to embrace the change in the environment of respective municipalities,” he said.
The Guardian 