SECUNDA – The South African Local Government Association (Salga) in Mpumalanga held the Municipal Governance and Finance Indaba at Graceland Hotel, Casino and Country Club from 5 to 6 March.
The indaba was aimed at tackling issues of the National Development Plan (NDP), to ensure that local government starts moving towards implementing the plan and realising the ideals of a capable and developmental state.
Delivering her opening address, Ms Tiny Mthimunye, deputy chairman for Salga Mpumalanga, said the governance and the financial management of municipalities remain at the core of the delivery of basic services to the people.
“This means that the extent in which we can be effective in delivering the basic services to all, largely depends on our ability as local government practitioners to manage our institutions and the resources.
She said in most cases governance and financial management present a myriad of challenges which lead to difficulties in the delivery of services.
“It is therefore critical, that, as we converge here, for two days, we sharpen our understanding of governance and financial management to achieve a better life for all. We enable government to review the inter-governmental fiscal system to improve coordination and long term planning to bring some predictability to local government delivery.”
“Emphasis on the Ethical leadership which introduces strong values of integrity, serving others, and commitment and that we emphasis on consequence management also.”
Ms Mthimunye said the Indaba provided opportune time, to take stock of the gains that have been made during the current term as they journey towards the Local Government elections in 2021.
She said the six pillars of good governance as articulated by the World Bank are “political accountability, freedom of association and popular participation, a sound judicial system, bureaucratic accountability, freedom of information, and capacity building.
She claimed local government consider these pillars as fundamental in the governance framework and that good governance and democracy are essential to ensure maximum participation and ownership of the decision making process at the local level.
“Government debt has had positive trends in the payment of rates, taxes and services by government departments as compared to the past.
“The government debt forum which comprises SALGA, Provincial Treasury, municipalities and government departments, has created a productive platform where government debt matters are resolved.
“This is yielding positive results as municipalities are now able to receive the much needed revenue.
“Budgets are an important financial tool that is used to bring to reality the IDP objectives. In the past, municipalities have approved unfunded budgets which have resulted in unauthorised expenditures. National Treasury is putting an end to this practice. Municipalities are no longer”
She said or the 2018/19 audit outcomes, most of our municipalities have regressed and the picture is not good at all.
