Municipalities should fall under Cogta – Tau

DEPUTY Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Parks Tau says support and monitoring of municipalities in order to perform their constitutional functions should form part of normal duties of his department at national and provincial levels.

Tau made the statement when he briefed the National Council of Province’s (NCOP) select committee on co-operative governance on interventions.

“It should be in normal duties that you support municipalities where there are limitations. It should be in the normal duties to monitor what transpires in municipalities, receive reports on a regular basis, intervene appropriately and ensure local government performs its functions,” he said.

Tau told the NCOP of plans to introduce a Bill that spells out a process to monitor and support municipalities before there was intervention.

He said placing a municipality under administration should come as a last resort.

He also said support for municipalities via Section 154 of the Constitution must be prioritised.

Tau noted that there were a number of municipalities that were at different stages of intervention and the forum of the Co-operative Governance Minister and MECs agreed to review the implementation of Section 139.

A total of 40 municipalities across the country are under administration with North West and KwaZulu-Natal leading with 13 and 10 respectively.

Cogta director-general Dan Mashitisho said provinces were unable to monitor the performance of municipalities and provide support appropriately.

“When the provincial executive council takes resolution to intervene in terms of the constitutional provisions, more often than not, there is no resource allocation for the implementation of an intervention,” Mashitisho said.

He also said there was a lack of legislation to give effect to interventions in municipalities via Section 100 and 139 of the Constitution.

Committee chairperson China Dodovu said there was a need for a paradigm shift.