Cooperative Governance Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa has underlined the essential need to upskill employees in the country’s underperforming municipalities.
This comes after the release of an Auditor-General report revealing R24 billion in illegal spending and rampant mismanagement across the country’s municipalities.
The audit results for 2022/2023 provided a grim image of local government, demonstrating a decline in municipal financial management.
The research found almost R7 billion in futile and inefficient expenditure, as well as serious infrastructure neglect that has resulted in considerable water and electricity losses.
In a recent interview with Newzroom Afrika, Hlabisa stated his concerns about the audit results, pointing out that only one out of eight metros received a clean audit, and only 34 of around 257 municipalities satisfied the threshold.
“It is not impressing that only one metro got a clean audit,” Hlabisa said, underscoring the urgency of the situation.
Hlabisa stressed that improving the state of municipalities is impossible without competent management.
To address the dysfunctionality, he announced a 21-day turnaround plan for the worst-performing municipalities, aimed at rectifying the issues highlighted in the audit.
‘’Our then crucial plan must introduce a culture of good governance,’’ he said, adding the importance of support and accountability in achieving meaningful change.
‘’Our municipalities must be supported and accountability must be instituted,’’ Hlabisa said.
The minister also said that the department would ensure that distressed municipalities fully utilise their budgets to prevent funds from being returned to the National Treasury.
In addition, he pointed to the need to reassess the allocation of disaster grants across all municipalities.
“We want to zone in on these municipalities; who are the MMs (municipal managers), and what qualifications do they own? Who are the CEOs, director of technical services, and director of corporate services? These are key sections of the municipality’s performance,” Hlabisa asked.
“Do they have suitable qualifications? Because whatever turn-around plan we come up with, if people on the ground do not have sufficient competency, it will not work,” he said.
