Municipal credit cards to be banned, says Cogta MEC
The new regulations also limit the use of consultants and the cost of personal security for municipal office bearers.
New measures to help cut wasteful expenditure on mayoral vehicles and their security are to be put in place at municipalities in the province.
The new measures, announced by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, include cutting of municipal consultants, events, catering, cellphones and credit cards.
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In a statement, the MEC said the money would now be redirected towards service delivery to communities.
In the past, cost cutting measures were mere guidelines, now the MEC says they will be non-negotiable and compulsory for all municipalities.
The new regulations limit the use of consultants and the cost of personal security for municipal office bearers.
The cost of official vehicles for municipal office bearers is restricted to R700 000 or 70 percent of their annual package, flight tickets are limited to economy class and the number of municipal representatives in international events is limited as is their travel and subsistence allowance.
“We are also announcing a total ban on the use of municipal credit cards, as well as severe restrictions on catering, entertainment and advertising by municipalities. There will be consequences for non-compliance,” said the MEC.
She also unveiled a mobile app, courtesy of Vodacom, which could help municipalities’ ability to respond to service delivery issues, such as water leaks and potholes.
The app will offer functionality to the public, not only to log service delivery incidents, but also to follow up on the progress in their resolution by municipalities.
“The app works from any cellphone. A logged incident is allocated a reference number which is sent via a text message and in app to residents. For residents without smart phones, the solution offers an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data string with similar functionality to the mobile app. The USSD can be customised to local languages,” said Ms Dube-Ncube.
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