12 Aug 2011
“Every mayor, executive committee and full council should take a keen interest in ensuring that their municipalities comply with all auditing requirements.”
This was a message from KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Dr Zweli Mkhize when he addressed the sitting of the Premier’s Coordinating Forum (PCF) in Durban today.
The PCF is a platform where all mayors and their deputies, municipal managers, chief financial officers and the provincial government leadership discuss various issues of governance at both provincial and local government levels.
Dr Mkhize said there needs to be a change in attitudes among municipal officials, to move from an adversarial relationship with the office of the Auditor-General, to one that views the office as an arm of assistance.
Dr Mkhize said there is a concern at the number of municipalities that seem to be falling back in terms of compliance, and called on municipalities to report any potential problems early so that assistance can be offered.
“Ultimately it remains the responsibility of the councillors to oversee the running of the municipality and you must have early warning systems which can assist in the activation of supportive assistance, and what kind of support is needed,” said Dr Mkhize.
He said it is not nice when provincial government has to intervene in a manner it did in some of the municipalities where it became apparent that they could not execute their mandate properly, like Umkhanyakude, Umsunduzi and others.
“It becomes very important for all councillors to attend meetings. One of the precipitating factors to the recent service delivery protests are simply lack of information and attitudes. Therefore we need to ensure that councillors and officials get adequate training to handle community issues,” said Dr Mkhize.
He said another serious issue that needs to be dealt with is the issue of conflict of interest, where there are cases where it appears councillors are doing business with their municipalities, and business interests not being declared.
Dr Mkhize said the issue of the relationship between municipalities and traditional leaders is one that comes up time and again.
“There needs to be common respect between these two bodies, and the relationships needs to be properly services by ensuring that there is a proper flow of information, coordination and consultation.”
Dr Mkhize stressed the role that needs to be played by local government in the provision of essential services to the community, like health and welfare issues.
“We need all the leaders on the ground to come together and go beyond party political issues, to deal with all kinds of ills in our society,” said Dr Mkhize, emphasising the need for every level of government and the civil society to get involved in rolling out the activities of Operation Sukuma Sakhe.
Dr Mkhize also asked for the support of all municipalities in the review of the Provincial Growth Strategy being undertaken by the Provincial Planning Commission, chaired by Cyril Xaba.
“Your responsibility is to see development in your municipalities, the first being the need for communities to feed themselves, and the creation of jobs. You then need to tell us what assistance you need to ensure that we deal with these particular issues,” said Dr Mkhize.
He also said cooperation between neighbouring municipalities will be key to ensuring growth, and will ensure that investment in one municipality will benefit nearby municipalities.
He made an example of water provision, where not all municipalities have dams, but can benefit when planning for water provision can be regionalised.
Monitoring and evaluation is also going to be an important issue for discussion with members of the Forum, especially since most monitoring targets for Provincial government take place at a local government level. “The question is do municipalities relate to these targets,” Dr Mkhize said.
Enquiries:
Regi Khumalo
Media Liaison Desk for Dr Zweli Mkhize
Cell: 079 751 6108
E-mail: regi.khumalo@yahoo.com
Ndabezinhle Sibiya
Premier’s Spokesperson
Cell: 082 3754742
Issued by: KwaZulu-Natal Office of the Premier
12 Aug 2011
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