Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Velenkosini Hlabisa, has confirmed that his department will be clamping down on dysfunctional municipalities in a bid to curb corruption and under-performance.
On Monday, Hlabisa said his department will dissolve under-performing municipalities who misused their funds.
Hlabisa alongside other new members of the Government of National Unity, was sworn in on July 3, as part of the seventh administration.
“We were sworn in on the third of July and we have received a handover report from the previous minister of the department and we have gone through the handover report. We have seen all outstanding matters which were handed over to the new administration. We are having our feet on the ground and over the past three weeks, we have been interrogating a range of issues,” he said.
Hlabisa said among these matters, was the issue of under-performing municipalities.
“Of course, the local government is a critical sphere used by everybody in South Africa who lives in a certain ward and every service delivery happens in a municipality not at a provincial or national space but at a ward level where people live. Therefore, municipalities play a key role in the development of our communities and the provision of services in our communities.
“When I delivered the budget of the department last week on Wednesday, we delivered under the theme that says every municipality must work and the 257 municipalities must fully function because they are provided money through grants and a variety of categories and they must use this money for the benefit of our people,” he said.
Last week, during the Cabinet lekgotla, Hlabisa emphasised the importance of functional local government and minimal disruptions to the work of municipalities.
“The local government sphere is a very important sphere of governance, because it is the closest sphere of where people are. The local government is responsible for efficient service delivery. Our priority is to ensure stability in local government. We must minimise to zero the level of protest, because if there are protests, there are no opportunities of having services done.”
Last year, former Cogta minister, Thembi Nkadimeng reflected on the 2021 State of Local Government report in which 64 municipalities were categorised as dysfunctional. The latest 2022 report, indicated that it had increased to 66.
The Star