Department of Cooperative Governance and

Traditional Affairs

PROGRESS ON THE UNDERTAKINGS MADE BY THE EXECUTIVE OF COGTA

NCOP - TAKING PARLIAMENT TO THE PEOPLEOUDTSHOORN 13-17 APRIL 2015

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To brief the Select Committee (SC) on the progress regarding the undertaking made by the Executive of COGTA during the NCOP – Taking Parliament to the People’s Programme, in Oudtshoorn, 13 April 2015

PURPOSE

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PROGRESS

As part of the roll-out of the Back to Basics programme, Minister P Gordhan paid a surprise visit to Oudtshoorn Local Municipality on 20 February 2015 to assess its governance and functionality status. While this is part of the B2B strategy, the visit was also prompted by: • Assessment of the Oudtshoorn Local Municipality by the Western Cape

Provincial Department of Local Government• negative media reports• administrative dysfunctionality• loss of confidence by residents in the municipality

Engaged ordinary citizens on the streets; Afriforum; political parties; businesses; community leaders; the Audit Committee Chairperson; Councillors; the Mayor; Deputy Mayor and the Acting Municipal Manager.

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PROGRESS

The challenges of the Oudtshoorn Local Municipality include:

• Political and administrative instability;• Irregular acting appointments in senior positions;• Water Pollution; refuse removal and general breakdown in the

delivery of services to communities;• Poor Communication with Communities; • Eskom debt and decline of the tourism industry; and • Racial polarization in the municipality and communities of

Oudtshoorn Municipality.

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PROGRESS

A Support and Good Governance Package was offered and initially rejected by the Council

Minister P Gordhan, Deputy Minister A Nel and senior officials from CoGTA continued engagements with the political and administrative leadership of the municipality on 7-8 April 2015, 12-13 April 2015 and 15 June 2015, until agreement was reached on 17 July 2015. Several working sessions followed.

The Municipality was placed under Administration - Section of 139 (1) (b) of the Constitution of RSA on 17 August 2015 and Mr. Kam Chetty was appointed as the Administrator.

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PROGRESS

Main pillars of the good governance package• Performance• Forensic-finance• Staffing-human resources• Legal matters

Work in all four work streams have commenced, with projects at varying levels of completion.

The contract with the administrator is six months but may be reviewed

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PROGRESS ON UNDERTAKINGS

The following update only focuses on the undertakings made by Deputy Minister Nel and many of the other matters raised by citizens and representatives of organisations during the NCOP Sessions, between 13 to 17 April 2015, which would be addressed by the OLM, WC DLG and COGTA.

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PROGRESS

Issue Action Responsibility and Status

Use of fictitious/outdated statistics in development of IDPs: Over the past few years allocations have been made based on outdated statistics contained in the IDP such as the one that says that Mosselbay is the second largest municipality in the District whereas it is, in fact, Oudtshoorn in terms of Stats SA

The matter was taken up with the Eden District Municipality and the sentence in the IDP was corrected.

COGTA

Completed

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PROGRESS

Issue Action Responsibility and Status

Inequalities with regard to the distribution of equitable share to municipalities. The Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs should review the distribution of equitable share to municipalities as there is a lot of inequalities in this regards.

The formula used to allocate the LG Equitable Share (LGES) was reviewed during 2012 through a collective and consultative process that included NT, COGTA, SALGA, FFC, StatsSA, LG and other stakeholders. The revised formula is based on data from 2011 Census and corresponding changes to some allocations. New allocations are being phased until 2017/2018.

COGTA

Completed

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PROGRESS

Issue Action Responsibility and Status

Allegations of political allegiance in the allocation of funding to municipalities: It was alleged that the allocation of funding to municipalities for infrastructure was seen to be based on political allegiance since Kannaland Municipality was only allocated R30 million whereas George Municipality was allocated R300 million

Funding to municipalitiesPre-determined formulae (population, backlogs, no of indigents, area, revenue, etc) and conditions.

Grants are also dependent on applications from municipalities.

Besides differences in population sizes, the George LM can apply for the Neighbour Development Grant, while Kannaland LM cannot. Only Metropolitan Municipalities and Secondary cities can access this grant, for example.

COGTA / National Treasury

Completed

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PROGRESSIssue Action Responsibility and Status

Lack of integration of neighbourhoods in the George Municipality: Notwithstanding the fact that SA has been in democratic dispensation for more than 20 years, none of the neighbourhoods in George are integrated.

The matter was discussed with the George LM and DHS, all agree that levels of integration in the George Local Municipality and all municipalities in South Africa, are unacceptable.

Land availability dictates where houses will be built, especially ‘RDP’ houses.

In the case of the new ‘RDP’ housing developments in George LM, residents that are from historically different race groups live together, but level is very low.

George LM, other role players

Ongoing

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PROGRESS

Issue Action Responsibility and Status

A delay in allocating a house to an elderly resident: Mr. M Dalasile from Oudtshoorn asked government to prioritise elderly people when it comes to house allocation as he has been applying for one since 1991

The Administrator is following up on allocations with the housing Unit in Oudtshoorn LM and will provide a report

Oudtshoorn LM

Ongoing

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PROGRESSAdditional Undertakings made by Deputy Minister Nel The Department has initiated a programme titled ‘back to basics’ through which it will support municipalities to ensure that a minimum basket of services are provided to households across the province

COGTA has initiated a programme titled “back to basics” through which it will support municipalities to ensure that a minimum basket of services are provided to households across the Province. Key Pillars include Putting People First, Provision of Basic Services, Institutional Capabilities, Good Governance and Financial Health.

In WC, B2B focuses on ten (10) priority municipalities, including Oudtshoorn LM’s current intervention.

Other components• Unannounced visits to municipalities by

the Minister and Deputy Ministers• The development of an Information and

verification system

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PROGRESSAdditional Undertakings by Deputy Minister Nel The Department has initiated a programme titled ‘back to basics’ through which it will support municipalities to ensure that a minimum basket of services are provided to households across the province

The Inter-Ministerial Task Team on Service Delivery• Updating of indigent registers • Review and possible amendments to

legislations, regulations, policies and frameworks

• Technical assistance and deployments to municipalities are being undertaken by COGTA – MISA. This includes OLM.

• Development of a national procurement system to ensure implementation of projects where capacity is absent

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PROGRESS

Additional Undertakings

It is imperative that councillors provide regular feedback to their communities

The WC B2B Task Team has supported all the priority municipalities to develop operational ward plans, which are being monitored. A necessary feature of these plans are report backs to communities.

The WC DLG is also monitoring the implementation of ward plans of the other municipalities

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PROGRESS

Additional Undertakings

National government would ensure that there is no political interference in municipal administration by councillors.

The WC B2B PTT has been supporting municipalities to ensure that a proper separation of powers between administration and political leadership exists. Working sessions with all the priority municipalities have been conducted and monitoring is ongoing.

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Thank You