Mandate, role, functions and powers of MPACs

Hon Sipho Makama

APAC General Secretary

APAC Annual Training Workshop

11-13 May 2011

INTRODUCTION• Legislators play a critical role in securing

accountability when exercising oversight of government;

• Elected politicians have a task to make sure that policies are implemented accordingly;

• Legislatures help to enforce accountable government; and

• Therefore the executive is accountable to the elected politicians in parliament or legislatures

INTRODUCTION• Effective legislative oversight calls for

separation of powers between legislative and executive branches

• In local government, these are combined in the municipal council

• City of Johannesburg has experimented with new model where the executive council members are separated from the non-executive members with the latter acting as legislature

OVERSIGHT ARRANGEMENTS

• Legislatures are commonly composed of various committees to take advantage of division of labour

• Usually there are three standing committees relevant to budget oversight:o finance committeeo sectoral committeeso public accounts committees

• Coordination among these is crucial• Budget oversight focuses on three principles

of budgets:

OVERSIGHT ARRANGEMENTSo fiscal discipline;o allocative efficiency; and o operational efficiency

• Finance committee focuses on these ex ante while the public accounts committee deals with these ex post

• National treasury circular 32 provides for oversight reports and establishment of oversight committees in municipalities;

• These committees fit well the description of public accounts committees at the local sphere of government

OBJECTIVE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• Local govt must strive within its financial and administrative capacity to:o provide democratic & accountable govt for local

communities;o ensure sustainable provision of services to

communities;o promote social & economiC development;o promote safe & healthy environment; and o encourage the involvement of communities.

DEVELOPMENTAL DUTIES OF LOCAL GOVTs

• Local govt must structure & manage its administration, budgeting and planning process to give priority to:

o basic needs of communities; o promote the social & economic development ;

ando participate in provincial & national

development programmes.

PURPOSE OF MPACs

• The MPACs assist council to hold the executive and municipal agencies to account, and to ensure the efficient and effective use of municipal resources

• It should be noted that the legislative authority of the municipality rests with the council.

EXECUTING MPACs’ MANDATE

• Workplans and scope of work:o workplan to be based on executive budget cycles

• To be effective the committee must have good understanding of:o priorities of the municipality;o key programmes aimed at giving effect to the

priorities;o achievement of targets related to each of the

priorities; ando status of budget execution for each vote.

EXECUTING MPACs’ MANDATE

• Issues to be considered for a typical committee meeting:o Review of progress on issues raised in the

previous sitting on audits and committee recommendations and house resolutions;

o Review of key service delivery issues and achievements;

o Consideration of financial statements and budget execution; and

o Consideration of audit report and associated financial management issues

• Members of the public and media to be allowed into hearings

POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF MPACs

• Infrastructure and basic serviceso building regulations,o airports & public transport,o public works in respect of municipalities,o storm water management systems, etc.

• Social & cultural serviceso health services,o cemeteries, funeral parlours & crematoria,o fencing & fences,o facilities for accommodation, care & burial of animals, etc.

• Administration & public ordero control of public finances,o licensing & control of undertakings that sell food to public, etc.

POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF MPACs

• Any other matter assigned to it by province or national legislation

• The committee must have the power to initiate follow up inquiries into audit reports of the Auditor-General.

• This power should not be limited to purely financial audits, but also allow follow-ups to performance reports

• It is highly desirable that the committee also later conduct enquiries, perhaps two or three years after government has responded to audit recommendations to see if, and how, those recommendations have been implemented.

POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF MPACs

• PACs should have the power to raise their own references, and to hold public hearings;

• This investigative power of the PACs should be backed up with a legislated power to summon witness and demand the production of documents; and

• The way in which PACs are chaired can be critical to their success.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK GUIDING PACs’ OVERSIGHT ROLE

• Section 55 and 114 of the Constitution states that legislatures are expected to hold all organs of state accountable. o This means that the work of PACs is not limited to

those institutions that are audited by the AG but as well as entities in receipt of public money or authorised to receive money for public purpose.

• Other tools used by pacs are:o The AG’s reports (guided by the audit act);o the PFMA;o the MFMA; and the legislature rules

CO-OPERATIVE GOVT AS A TOOL TO ENHANCE CAPACITY AT LOCAL GOVT

LEVEL• The Constitution in Section 154 states that the national

govt and provincial govts through legislative and other measures, must support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities to manage their own affairs, to exercise their powers and to perform their functions;

• Section 41 further provides for intergovernmental relations. section 152 provides for the improvement of democratic and accountable government and to guarantee that the provision of services to the citizens is sustainable.

EXAMPLES OF ISSUES THAT PACs DEAL WITH

• Unauthorised expenditure• Fruitless expenditure• Wasteful expenditure• Irregular expenditure and• Internal controls:

• audit committees;• internal audits;• systems; and• compliance with relevant legislation

ROLE OF OVERSIGHT – SERVICE DELIVERY

• Close accountability loop by exercising oversight of

service delivery;

• Focus should be on the following:oThe technical quality of the annual reports;oThe quality of performance information; oThe economy, efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery ;oImplementation of the entity’s service delivery improvement plan;oEvaluating management’s explanations why service delivery was not in line with targets and budgets.

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT AND MEDIA COVERAGE

• MPACs should be able to hold enquiries in a manner which allows public participation.

• Submissions on enquiries should be able to come from the public and MPACs should have the right to call members of the public as witnesses.

• Parliamentary privileges should apply to witnesses enabling them to speak freely.

• hearings (not deliberative meetings) should be open to the media.

MEASURES TO COMBAT CORRUPTION

• All departments in municipality to have fraud prevention strategies and plans

• PACs and MPACs should play a central role at budget execution stage

• Other bodies such as the Public Service Commission need to be part of the solution;

• Focused audit on corruption (systems)• integrated risk management • PACs led by APAC have initiated a relationship

framework with chapter 9 & 10 institutions, law enforcement agencies and other relevant bodies to combat fraud, fraudulent activities as well as corruption and corrupt activities.

MATTER OF IMPORTANCE

• To ensure effectiveness of oversight generally, and thus strengthen our democracy, it is important that the local government oversight structures are adequately capacitated.

CONCLUSION

•I would like to conclude with a caption from the words of Amilcar Cabral:

•” Every responsible member must have the courage for his responsibilities, exacting from others a proper respect for his work and properly respecting the work of others. Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories”.