Mpac wants Govan Mbeki Municipality’s officials and politicians to account

 Govan Mbeki Municipality is debt-ridden and has a culture of unauthorised and fruitless spending from the public purse.

These were the words of Ciska Jordaan, DA-councillor and new chairperson of the Municipal Accounts Committee (Mpac), during the committee’s first meeting last week.

She said the municipality also has a history of receiving poor audit opinions from the office of the Auditor-General, and other investigations conducted within the municipality also proved that the municipality’s culture needs to change.

That means the committee is faced with an enormous task.

Cllr Jordaan said the committee should promote openness, transparency and ethical behaviour as the only way that can make the municipality function.

“As it is outlined in our country’s constitution, we have to conduct our business with as much openness and transparency as possible to ensure that things are being done according to the law.

“We have a five-year term of office unless your political party decides otherwise to remove you from Mpac. ”

According to the Municipal Structures Act, members of the committee are not allowed to be a member of the municipal executive or municipal office-bearer. The chairperson of the committee should be a member of the opposition party and their meetings should be open to the public because they are not a political committee.

Jordaan said as they will be conducting an oversight, they will make sure that public money is used correctly and service delivery plans are implemented.

She also said the Auditor-General’s office, the media and the public should be invited to all the Mpac meetings unless the committee decides that a certain matter must be discussed in a closed session.

The Mpac adopted its terms of reference from the Municipal Structures Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act and was benchmarked in the City of Cape Town, according to Jordaan.

Committee members raised their concerns that in previous terms, certain council recommendations were submitted to the municipal administration aimed at assisting the institution or outcomes of the investigations, were not implemented.

Those who were alleged to be involved in corruption were supposed to be either suspended or criminal cases were supposed to have been opened against them, but members said even now all those recommendations were never implemented.

Ntshokoe Raphela, the municipal finance advisor from the National Treasury offices, said Mpac needs to question the administration on variations on every financial report presented to them.

Raphela also said in terms of section 71 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, the accounting officer (municipal manager) must submit financial statements in a prescribed format about the state of the municipal budget no later than 10 working days to the mayor and the provincial treasury.

Raphela warned the Mpac on the spending of conditional grants from the National Treasury as the municipality’s fiscal second-quarter report shows that the Municipal Infrastructure Grant spending by the Govan Mbeki Municipality was 70 per cent.

“It is very painful when the municipality is given millions of rand to provide services such as road maintenance and other infrastructure for their communities and that money is then taken back by the National Treasury because it was not used.

“As Mpac, you are at the centre of conducting oversight and to take the executive and the administration of this municipality to account.

“Your role is to check the municipal financial spending, such as in the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and to ask the administration how much money is left in the MIG,” said Raphela.

Raphela said the administration must provide Mpac with answers on whether the municipality is progressing or not with all the conditional grants they had received.
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