HIGHVELD – The provincial government has stepped in to help the Govan Mbeki Municipality (GMM) gain financial stability.
During the recent council meeting on Friday, 8 November, the Provincial Treasury tabled a Financial Recovery Plan (FRP) which is aimed at helping the municipality find solutions to its current dire financial state.
This came after the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) listed the GMM as one of the eight most distress municipalities in the province.
In a press statement, the Treasury said it has approached this exercise with an open mind and that it will cast its net wide to ensure that this financial recovery plan reflects the ethos of a participatory government.
Treasury stated that the recovery plan will set the municipality on a path of effective rates collection, budgeting and public accounting.
In the previous week, the executive council of the Mpumalanga Legislature invoked Section 106 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act, 2000 at GMM and assigned Cogta to investigate the municipality.
The municipality will be investigated on allegations of maladministration, fraud, corruption and other serious malpractices.
The probe is expected to be concluded within 60 days.
The Democratic Alliance said it was unhappy the intervention was only discussed in the recent council meeting, while the municipality was aware of it since 11 October.
Ms Ciska Jordaan, caucus leader, said her party’s outrage is fuelled by the fact that they have been calling for the intervention of the province even before the first unfunded budget was approved in 2018, as well as the lack of transparency with the process of preparing the FRP.
“According to the MFMA (the Municipal Finance Management Act), 14 days before finalising such a plan, a variety of stakeholders must provide their input, including organised labour and the local community.
“It is doubtful whether these stakeholders have been given the chance, since the DA was not made aware of any public participation that was taking place.
“The inconsistency with which the ANC executive of the municipality attempted to defend the process has not done much to clarify these doubts and shows a total lack of transparency.
“While the Speaker, Mr Nhlakanipho Zuma, indicated that there were stakeholders who have submitted written comments, the chief whip of council, Mr Doctor Mtshali, said during the council meeting that public participation still needs to take place.”
The DA is also unhappy that a “Special Adjustment Budget” was also approved.
The party said this budget was presented in the same light as the provincial intervention which details that the municipality had approved an unfunded budget for the 2019/2020 financial year and that this must be rectified.
The DA vehemently opposed the approval of both the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 unfunded budgets which reflected deficits of millions of Rands to the point that several extraordinary council meetings were left without a quorum due to walkouts.
https://www.citizen.co.za/ridge-times/117707/government-intervenes-on-the-councils-eskom-debt/
“Ms Ngxonono said that Treasury had given permission for the municipality to approve a budget with a deficit and that this was not a problem.
“Despite the cardinal warning of the DA against approving an unfunded budget which is prohibited by law, the budgets were pushed through the council every time by an ANC majority vote.
It is inexcusable that the council must now be slapped on the wrist by the province and threatened with funds that could be withheld from Provincial and National treasuries, should these strategic documents not be implemented.”
Ms Thandi Ngxonono, executive mayor, clarified that the municipality is not placed under administration, but rather under investigation.
She said the council took a resolution to request an investigation into the affairs of the municipality in terms of Section 106 (1) (b) of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000.
She claimed this was not imposed, but rather implemented as a resolution taken by council.
“I would like to dispel the misconception that our municipality has been placed under administration as purported in the public domain.
“That is absolutely untrue. This wrong information is being disseminated by information peddlers who are driven by their sinister and malicious agenda against the municipality.
“This Section 106 invocation is not Section 139 as the media has incorrectly reported,” said Ms Ngxonono.
“It was this council that requested Cogta to invoke Section 106 back in 2018 during a council meeting that took place in March 2018.
“Cogta has decided to implement this request only now and perhaps that is why the media and some people are confused.
“This is nothing new. It was the council request to Cogta.”
