COGTA Committee Eyes August for Municipality Systems Amendment Bill Presentation

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Chairperson of the portfolio committee on Cogta, Faith Muthambi.

LOLO MAPHOPHE

THE Local Government Municipality Bill [B2-2019] could be presented before parliament in August following a glitch in which the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs failed to submit its report this week.

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The department failed to submit the regulatory Socio-Economic Impact Assessment Report of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill which forms part of the department’s input into the bill.

The submission of the report forms part of the process where a socio-economic impact assessment report is presented for a bill to considered by parliament. According to chairperson of the portfolio committee on Cogta, Faith Muthambi, the department only submitted the Socio-Economic Impact Assessment on Tuesday.

To remedy this recent postponement, the department has written to Muthambi acknowledging their failure to submit on time.

“As a way forward, the department will present an action plan with timelines on how they are going to deal with this matter,” Muthambi told Inside Metros.

The bill seeks to address the appointment of political office-bearers into municipal managerial positions.

It further proposes in Section 56A (1) that “municipal managers or managers accountable to a municipal manager may not hold office in a party, whether in a permanent, temporary or acting capacity.”

The department has had postponements of their presentations to the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the past, with the committee expressing its frustration with the department for their failure to submit inputs on the bill on time.

Muthambi further said that this process is aimed at empowering the minister and to facilitate the enhancement of processes on monitoring performance and the competence of senior managers in municipalities.

She said that the committee had to be vigilant in making sure that the law is enforceable and that it is presented in the simplest terms possible to avoid misinterpretations.

Communities, unions, and opposition political parties have in the past accused the cadre deployment policy on the collapse and the crippling of service provision to communities by municipalities. 

Often, the lack of services caused by the collapse of how municipalities function would lead to violent protests which resulted in the destruction of government property, which caused further drawback for both municipalities and communities they serve.

It is hoped that through this bill, municipalities will be able to deliver on their constitutional mandate guided by the bill and implementing their human resource planning with the sole focus of filling strategic managerial positions with competent and skilled professionals who will change the course of how municipalities are managed in future.

(Compiled by Inside Metros staff)

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