Presenting the facts
Gauteng Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs annual report faces committee hearings.
The Gauteng Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs & Human Settlements Portfolio Committee heard a presentation from the Gauteng Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) regarding its annual report for 2015/16 on Friday, November 4 at the Sokhulumi Traditional Leaders’ office.
In its report, CoGTA says that it hit 85% of its performance targets, including 100% of those in its Traditional Institutional Management programme and 92% of its goals for Administration. However, it only spent 91% of its R407m budget over the year – partly because it hasn’t been able to acquire a building that was linked to an R27m line item earmarked for capital expenditure. CoGTA noted that this was an improvement on 2014/15, when the underspend was 17% of total budget.
Much of the rest of the underspend, CoGTA argued in its annual report, was due to a lower salary bill because it hadn’t managed to recruit to several critical positions: the Portfolio Committee questioned this, arguing that the target for the year was 60% of critical vacant positions to be filled, whereas the total proportion of critical positions filled was 73%. CoGTA exceeded its target for employment equity.
One particular concern that was raised as a result of the Department’s underspend was the knock-on effect to small businesses in the area who rely on government spending for growth. In particular, the Portfolio Committee raised concerns that 1% of service providers were not paid within 30 days during the 2015/16 financial year as prescribed by the Public Finance Management Act. CoGTA argued that this was primarily due to the expiration of tax clearance certificates on behalf of service providers, but the Portfolio Committee appealed to the Department to pay all bills within 30 days because of the serious implications for small businesses caused by late payment.
CoGTA has a mandate regarding the transformation and administration of local government, which covers capacity building within municipalities. In its annual report, CoGTA points out that only 17% of municipalities within the region received an adverse audit this year – and highlights particular issues within Westonaria and Randfontein, which The GPL Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs & Human Settlements Portfolio Committee, led by Mohatla Tseki takes public input (right).
it describes as ex-mining towns with high unemployment, and raises concerns about the future of local government in these areas.
The Portfolio Committee queried plans for remedial action in those municipalities that were struggling to comply with submission and preparation of paperwork for budget and implementation plans, and requested more details regarding the municipalities which reported that they didn’t have the right numbers of staff in their internal audit departments.
Over the course of the year, CoGTA produced four reports on fraud, corruption and maladministration cases reported and investigate, hitting its target. The Portfolio Committee asked for more details on the findings of these reports and what punitive action had been taken as a result – it also pointed out that a further report regarding anti-corruption and maladministration technical working groups hadn’t been filed by the end of the year, and queried why this was being carried out in partnership with the provincial premier’s office.