Cadre deployment seen as bad for municipalities

THE DEPLOYMENT of cadres without minimum competencies into finance positions in some municipalities is contributing to their failure to obtain positive audit outcomes.

This is coupled with the pressure on political deployees to award tenders to their political principals to secure their own future deployments.

These are some of the concerns raised by the SA Local Government Association (Salga), which has warned that these tendencies are likely to be rife ahead of the local government elections next year.

Salga executive director for municipal finance Simphiwe Dzengwa told an audience at a dialogue on municipalities’ audit outcomes hosted by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection that the election period created instability in municipalities.

“Whenever you have elections, the tendency is that most of those who are in municipal leadership positions and the quality of those who get elected are not always necessarily that which brings about confidence and better performance.

“If party structures bring into the leadership positions of municipalities good people or cadres politically, who don’t have a clue of what the MFMA (Municipal Finance Management Act) is about, then we have a problem,” he said.

Dzengwa raised concerns that some officials who were deployed to positions in municipal administrations, especially in smaller municipalities, would rather not comply with procurement processes to protect their own future prospects.

“Because, if I’m a municipal manager, you say to me, what greater risk do you face between getting an adverse audit finding and not giving the tender to the party leader?

“People don’t go to jail for an adverse audit report, but if I don’t give a tender to the party leader, I’m finished. That’s the reality that faces smaller municipalities,” he said.

Salga also raised concerns that the demarcation of municipal boundaries was likely to see mischief by officials.

“The temptation to indulge themselves in municipal coffers is very real during this period, and the disruption it entails is huge.

“From previous experience, we know that all sorts of mischief happens,” Dzengwa said.

Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu added there was also a need to do social audits.