W Cape ANC demands more support for municipalities

THE ANC in the Western Cape Legislature has called on the DA to support struggling municipalities after one municipality adopted an unfunded budget during the 2021/2022 financial year.

The party’s spokesperson in the standing committee on financial, economic opportunities, and tourism, Nomi Nkondlo, made the call at a meeting this week.

Nkondlo said it was concerning there were several vulnerable municipalities in the Western Cape that were failing to deliver basic services.

She was responding to finance MEC Mireille Wenger’s annual report for the provincial treasury.

Wenger said the report was indicative of the provincial treasury’s commitment to sound financial management.

She said one indicator was the unqualified audit outcomes with no findings for 22 Western Cape municipalities. The provincial treasury also reported that five municipalities were awarded unqualified audits with findings, while three were given qualified audits by the auditor-general.

Provincial Treasury accounting officer David Savage said the treasury had been forced to intervene and assist beleaguered municipalities, including the Beaufort West municipality, through a section 139(5) intervention.

“A combination of Covid-19 pressures and governance failures resulted in several municipalities adopting unfunded budgets.”

These municipalities were supported to develop credible budget funding plans. “Financial performance was closely monitored, and we intervened where necessary,” Savage said.

Nkondlo said the regressed audit outcomes for the Department of Human Settlements as well as the qualified audit opinion for Wesgro were a few examples pointing to the provincial treasury’s shortcomings in executing its mandate.

“It is concerning that we have several vulnerable municipalities in the Western Cape that are failing to deliver basic services due to financial management challenges.”

Nkondlo said the province’s rate of spending was a cause for concern.

“The reasons given for the underspending are unconvincing. The underspending in programmes was mainly a result of delays in the procurement process for the appointment of panels of experts for municipal interventions,” Nkondlo said.