By Thapelo Molefe
Parliament says Gauteng’s metropolitan municipalities remain under close scrutiny after oversight visits identified persistent governance, financial management and service delivery failures despite repeated interventions.
Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs chairperson Dr Zwelini Mkhize said Parliament had already conducted joint oversight visits to Gauteng municipalities, including the City of Johannesburg and the City of Ekurhuleni, as part of a national accountability programme.
“We’ve also just dealt with some of the municipalities from Gauteng, which is Ekurhuleni, the City of Johannesburg and so on,” Mkhize said, adding that further oversight visits would continue as Parliament monitored municipalities across the country.
His remarks came as Parliament defended the National Treasury’s decision to withhold July equitable share allocations from 69 municipalities that failed to meet financial governance requirements.
Although he did not identify the Gauteng municipalities affected by the funding decision, Mkhize said Parliament’s oversight had consistently exposed governance failures that undermine service delivery.
Standing Committee on Public Accounts chairperson Songezo Zibi said Parliament remained dissatisfied with the City of Johannesburg’s financial position following recent engagements with the metro.
He said one of the committee’s main concerns was the quality of political oversight over the city’s administration and municipal entities.
“The quality and stringency of the political oversight and guidance from the MMCs, the Mayor, as well as the committees within the Council, in particular the Municipal Public Accounts Committee, need to put in a lot more effort into providing that level of oversight,” Zibi said.
Zibi also questioned Johannesburg’s governance model, saying the city’s numerous municipal entities complicated effective oversight.
“There is no other city on planet Earth that has got 13 entities underneath it. All of those entities have their own governance structures, boards and management, which makes effective oversight much more difficult,” he said.
He said the Auditor-General had identified weaknesses in contract and project management, including poor contract administration, late payments to suppliers and missing technical documentation for infrastructure projects.
According to Zibi, these shortcomings had contributed to the financial pressures facing municipal entities such as City Power and Pikitup.
“We are not happy, but what we are determined to do is to not have a once-off interaction with the City of Johannesburg. We are going to continue engaging with the city together with other institutions until residents receive the level of service they deserve,” he said.
Mkhize echoed those concerns, saying Parliament had requested additional information from the City of Johannesburg on issues including high water losses, debt owed to Eskom, financial management and service delivery challenges.
He said Parliament’s joint oversight programme would continue to hold municipalities accountable by requiring provincial governments, municipal leadership and oversight institutions to explain governance failures and implement corrective measures.
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