Category: News

KZN MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Sipho Hlomuka has learned with shock and sadness of the sudden passing of the Provincial Legislature’s Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Portfolio Committee Chairperson Ricardo Mthembu.

Hlomuka has expressed condolences to Mthembu’s family, colleagues and his party – the ANC, which he had served as the spokesperson in KZN.

“We have lost a pillar and a doyen of wisdom in Mr Mthembu whose vast knowledge and experience of local government was put to good use in the service of the people of our province. As Chair of the Cogta Portfolio Committee, Mr Mthembu provided important guidance to the department on crucial matters pertaining to the delivery of services to our communities” said Hlomuka.

“During this difficult time when the country and province battle against the spread of the novel coronavirus, we are shattered to lose one of our key foot soldiers, one who was at the forefront of ensuring that government’s response to this virus is implemented speedily and effectively,” said Hlomuka.

During this difficult time, we wish strength to the Mthembu family: May God give them comfort as they come to terms with their devastating loss.

The latest set of audit outcomes of KZN’s municipalities show a slight improvement but they are certainly no cause for celebration. According to the report for the 2018/2019 financial year released by the Auditor-General’s office last week, our municipalities have maintained one clean audit opinion while 32 municipalities received an unqualified audit opinion, 18 municipalities received a qualified audit opinion, one municipality received an adverse opinion and two municipalities received a disclaimer of opinions.

Overall, there have been eight improvements against seven regressions in KZN with all other municipalities maintaining the status quo. These results are by no means satisfactory and the situation demands an urgent response. In the next few days, we will be meeting with all poorly performing municipalities to determine what measures are now in place to address all outstanding audit matters and what level of assistance is needed. Municipal accounting officers will also be expected to indicate the level of readiness for the upcoming submission of financial statements.

As Cogta – a provincial department which exercises general oversight over KZN’s local government institutions – we are determined to ensure that we lay solid foundations for radically improved audit outcomes in all of our municipalities. More specifically, we need to reverse the trend of poorly performing municipalities continuously incurring unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. In this regard, we also need to determine the level of consequence management in all municipalities where such expenditure is leading to poor audit outcomes.

Other root causes reported by the Auditor-General as contributing factors to the negative audit outcomes in our municipalities include slow response to improving key internal controls by senior municipal management and the political leadership, inadequate consequences for poor performance and instability and prolonged vacancies in key management positions in municipalities. Considering how much time and effort we as Cogta have put over time into municipal audit outcomes by way of supporting municipalities, these results are simply unacceptable

The latest municipal audit outcomes must therefore be a wake-up call for all senior municipal officials whose poor performance has caused this as well as all mayors and councillors whose poor oversight has failed to prevent it. Our mayors have a critical role to play in financial management and providing leadership over the fiscal and financial matters of their municipality. Similarly, municipal managers run the administration and must take guidance from the mayors but ultimately, the accountability rests with these officials to ensure clean audits.

And last but not least, chief financial officers are technical experts in preparation and submission of annual financial statements of municipalities and dealing with their financial matters. Material adjustments to financial statements are an indictment on these officials because this reflects ill-discipline in maintaining the financial records of the municipality and reporting in compliance with the relevant legislation. We cannot rely on the Auditor-General to come and tell us at the end of the year what is wrong with our accounting and record-keeping!

It is obvious that poor audit outcomes must be prevented. If these occur, then it reflects poorly on leadership, and indicates a breakdown in the management of the institution and its systems of internal control which is the responsibility of the municipal manager and management team. If this happens, there must be corrective action and consequence management. The law is specific in relation to consequence management and any person responsible for, say, unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, must be held to account.

This department has provided guidance to all concerned. We have also trained municipal officials and councillors, including mayors and members of Municipal Public Accounts Committees on dealing with unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure and consequence management. As Cogta, we maintain that ignorance is no excuse for contravening the law. We must do everything necessary to achieve clean audits and there can be no excuses for spending public funds and not accounting properly for them or for not following the law.

The new powers that have been given to the AG in terms of the Public Audit Amendment Act, allow the Auditor-General to refer material audit irregularities for further investigation if necessary and in certain cases, to demand the recovery of money lost from accounting officers. This will ensure that harsh consequences are meted out for non-performance.

Each stakeholder must play their part as defined in the law and this requires collective action with the administration implementing the processes and systems necessary, the mayor and council providing political leadership, monitoring effectively and performing rigorous oversight. As political heads of municipalities, mayors must ensure that the right people are in the right positions and that political interference in operational management is minimised. And unless municipal officials do their jobs properly and unless their work is overseen adequately by councillors, our municipalities will not achieve the audit outcomes their residents deserve.

The choice before our municipalities is clear: either they are prepared to take the hard decisions and discharge their duties in accordance with their mandate, or they face the consequences for poor performance. As Cogta, we have already demonstrated that we are not afraid to intervene in or even dissolve dysfunctional municipalities.

OPINION PIECE BY SIPHO HLOMUKA

KZN MEC FOR COGTA

KZN Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) has delivered thousands of water tanks for domestic use by communities as well as schools across the province where shortages of potable water were being felt during various stages of the Covid-19-related lockdown.

“Through our water intervention programme, we procured and distributed via Water Service Authorities some 3000 water tanks for domestic use. We also engaged the National Disaster Command, which donated a further 2325 tanks. Of these water tanks, 1125 were ring-fenced for distribution to schools,” said KZN MEC for Cogta Sipho Hlomuka.

When the country enforced the Disaster Management Act lockdown regulations, effective from 27 March 2020 to date, KZN Cogta was mandated to lead and coordinate all water interventions to ensure portable water supply for domestic use and assist other government departments, including Education, Health, Social Development and Justice (courts). While the delivery of water is not a core function of the department, it has a responsibility to capacitate and support local government institutions who are tasked with this responsibility.

“Our needs analysis reflected that over 1000 schools in the province needed static tanks to augment water supply which battled with varying challenges, including unpaid municipal water accounts, dysfunctional or ageing water infrastructure and illegal connections, all of which negatively contributed to the water supply,” said Hlomuka.

KZN Cogta’s static tanks are making a difference in communities and schools where water shortages had long been a problem and where the supply of water became a matter of urgency with the onset of lockdown regulations, many of which require enhanced personal hygiene as a way to limit the spread of Covid-19.

“Our success in the delivery of water to communities and schools is something we are determined to build on even as we, as a department, face budget reprioritisation as a result of unforeseen expenditure incurred in the fight against the spread of Covid-19. The delivery of water is and will remain a priority,” said Hlomuka.

KZN MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Sipho Hlomuka today led a webinar on government’s response to Covid-19 with a particular reference to the province’s municipalities. The panellists also included provincial Salga chairperson Cllr Nonhle Mkhulusi and Cogta’s in-house local government experts. The session was facilitated by Ms B. Mgutshini who is the Deputy Director-General for Development and Planning.

“Deliberating on topical issues within the sphere of local government is what we do at Cogta as part of policy-making and responsive service delivery but deliberating on such issues in a webinar is a reflection upon the new normal. We are now living in a Covid-19 world and we have had to adapt to the new circumstances,” said Hlomuka.

The panellists made presentations on a range of municipal issues they have had to respond to in connection with Covid-19 in their fields of expertise. Cllr Mkhulisi talked about the role of councillors in a Covid-19 world that has been characterised by restrictions on physical engagements but also by an undiminished demand for the delivery of basic services by municipalities.

Cogta’s local government expert Sicelo Duma who is currently serving as administrator at Msunduzi drew on his experience in ensuring that municipalities improve oversight of their functions in a Covid-19 world as councillors work in a challenging environment where limits on physical meetings and interactions are imposed by the authorities.

The second local government expert from Cogta, Joey Krishnan, referred to her expertise in municipal finance to talk about the financial impact of Covid-19 on municipalities and the need to enhance revenue collection at a time when the government-imposed restrictions on economic activity and freedom of movement have resulted in major revenue shortfalls.

Hlomuka summarised government’s efforts in adjusting public sector’s operations to the new normal by limiting physical meetings and sensitising communities to the implications of the declaration of state of disaster, which included the national lockdown from 27 March. He also reflected on the work of the Provincial Covid-19 Command Council in the fight against Covid-19.

Hlomuka also emphasised Cogta’s efforts in formulating plans to support the recovery of local government post-lockdown, which is based on five pillars, namely, governance, finance, basic service delivery, performance management and the newly launched District Development Model. His department has engaged with municipalities to develop their own Post-Lockdown Recovery Plans.

The webinar is archived on YouTube and can viewed on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE6HqYkdmuw

KZN MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Sipho Hlomuka has noted the Auditor-General’s 2018/2019 audit outcomes of the province’s municipalities which show a slight overall improvement but no cause for celebration. The municipal audit outcomes were released by the Auditor-General’s office today.

KZN’s municipalities have maintained one clean audit opinion while 32 municipalities received an unqualified audit opinion, 18 municipalities received a qualified audit opinion, one municipality received an adverse opinion and two municipalities received a disclaimer of opinions.

Overall there have been eight improvements against seven regressions in KZN with all other municipalities maintaining the status quo. The 2018/2019 audit outcomes thus indicate that there is much room for improvement and that ensuring accountability by municipal leadership is key in this regard.

In a special meeting convened by Hlomuka last month with the province’s mayors, the implementation of consequence management measures took centre stage as the sphere of local government in KZN continues to suffer from the outbreak of Covid-19 which has put pressure on already depleted resources available to municipalities.

Hlomuka has emphasised his department’s commitment to supporting municipalities as they seek to improve their audit outcomes. A raft of measures has been implemented by the department in conjunction with the Provincial Treasury to monitor the implementation of audit report plans. This includes the appointment of financial experts to assist municipalities to improve their audit outcomes. This intervention will ensure that audit improvement strategies are implemented and more so the transfer of skills also takes place in the management of municipal finances.

Hlomuka will also call an urgent meeting with the province’s mayors and senior municipal officials to comprehensively deal with the latest audit outcomes. KZN’s poorly performing municipalities will be expected to present realistic audit improvement plans with particular reference to areas of under-performance.

Amakhosi in the province of KZN have applauded governments efforts to curb the spread of the Corona Virus and have urged communities to continue to abide by the regulations and measures put in place by the government.

This morning the KZN MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Sipho Hlomuka this morning met with the Executive Committee of the Provincial House whose members he updated on government’s ongoing efforts to limit the spread of Covid-19. In his address, Hlomuka thanked amakhosi for the important role they play in reinforcing government’s message to communities about social distancing, wearing of masks and washing of hands with soap and water.

KZN MEC for Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation Hlengiwe Mavimbela who also attended the meeting emphasised the importance of indigenous knowledge systems in the government’s fight to prevent the spread of the virus.

The Chair of the Provincial House, Inkosi Chiliza, emphasised the House’s commitment to the fights against the spread of the virus. Inkosi Chiliza also underscored the importance of preserving indigenous knowledge

Self-sustenance and food security came into sharp focus this morning as KZN MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Sipho Hlomuka today officially launched the One Home One Garden programme in the Harry Gwala District.

This programme which is convened through the province-wide Operation Sukuma Sakhe initiative is aimed at improving food security in communities through the planting of gardens in each house in the district.

MEC Hlomuka visited the uMzimkhulu local municipality where he visited the household of Mbeko David Mhlongo (60), a pensioner, to assist him in planting his garden.

Hlomuka explained that the objective of the programme is to create self-sustenance in our communities. “In launching this programme, we are aiming for our communities to practice planting and tending gardens within their own homes. This helps in ensuring that we rely less on food bought from shops and more on our own homegrown vegetables,” said Hlomuka.

The second house that was visited by Hlomuka was that of 40-year-old Petros Skhumbuzo Jama who is unemployed but took up small-scale farming as an opportunity to feed himself and his family.

The launch of this programme, which comes with additional support from the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, includes ploughing materials and seeds.

Jama believes that the support he has received through this programme has empowered him to be better able to farm in his small garden.

During the visit, Hlomuka was accompanied by Cllr Zamo Nxumalo – the Mayor of the Harry Gwala District, Inkosi Chiliza – the Chairperson of KZN Provincial House of Traditional Leaders and Cllr Mpabanga – the uMzimkhulu Mayor.

Following the visit to the households, Hlomuka visited the Rietvlei Hospital where he joined the Provincial Legislature-led programme aimed at monitoring health institutions. During his visit there, Hlomuka encouraged nurses and doctors to continue with the good work they are doing in providing care to our communities during a time when the province and country are fighting against the spread of the coronavirus.

The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial House of Traditional Leaders through its Chairperson Inkosi PhathisizweChiliza, is calling upon all men in the province to be protectors of women and children amidst the rise of Gender Based Violence (GBV) throughout the country.

The call by Inkosi Chiliza comes after several incidents of gender based violence have left the country reelingand shocked. A number of women and children have in the past few weeks fallen victim to violence directed towards them. “What has taken place in the past few weeks has been shameful and beneath upstanding and righteous men. We call on all men in the province to go back to basics by becoming the natural protectors of women and children instead of being their tormentors”he said.

Inkosi Chiliza believes that traditional leaders have a vital role to play in the fight against the scourge of violence directed at women and children as many men in the province reside in traditional authorities. “As traditional leaders we need to do more in sounding the call for men to be the protectors of women and children. We also need to intensify our efforts in educating men about the role they must play in our communities,” hesaid.

Moreover, Inkosi Chiliza is urging communities living under traditional authorities to continue adhering to Covid-19 regulations as government continues with efforts to fight the pandemic. We have noticed that since the announcement of Lockdown Level 3, some in our communities have tended to show disregard for the regulations in place. “We therefore plead with communities to continue adhering to the regulations that are meant to protect them from the harmful virus,” said Chiliza.