Durban – Councillors who fail to champion initiatives to turn around poorly performing municipalities will face sanctions, including having their salaries and perks halted.
KwaZulu-Natal Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube warned councillors during their induction in Durban on Tuesday of the punitive measures they would face should they fail to support the government’s “Back to Basics” campaign.
“The programme is non- negotiable for all new and returning councillors in the province’s municipalities,” she said.
The programme is the department’s flagship initiative aimed at turning around KZN’s local government institutions.
“Salaries and other perks of councillors who defy the mandate given to them by the electorate could soon be halted if these councillors do not actively promote the programme,” Dube-Ncube warned.
She said that as a result of the poor state of service delivery in certain municipalities, the department had no choice but to institute the programme.
“It does not make sense that some of our councillors are drawing salaries without tangible results,” said Dube-Ncube.
She also warned councillors about failing to get clean audits.
Dube-Ncube said councillors presiding over municipalities which failed to get clean audits could be denied salary increases.
“Officials are not the only ones accountable. We will also be looking at you, the councillors and following to check what were you doing, where were you sleeping when things were going wrong,” she said.
The MEC’s warning follows a preliminary report by auditor- general Kimi Makwetu showing the number of municipalities that received clean audits from the previous financial year.
For the 2015/16 financial year, the number of clean audit opinions declined from 22 to 17. And for the first time since the 2013/14 financial year, it was reported that three municipalities in the province had received disclaimers.
A disclaimer is considered the worst possible audit opinion.
Among those that regressed was the Msunduzi Municipality, which slipped back to a qualified audit after receiving its first clean audit in five years the year before.
Dube-Ncube demanded that from the beginning councillors worked towards achieving clean audits.
“Why do we have to beg? It is a must, it is non-negotiable because there are people who are employed and remunerated handsomely, but their municipalities continue to wither in the ICU. Councillors are not asking tough questions when officials underperform,” said Dube-Ncube.
She said the councillors should strive to create ideal municipalities that attracted investors, retained skills and made people want to live there.
DA leader in eThekwini, councillor Zwakele Mncwango, said the recommendation was a good step in principle, but in reality it was a a wish list.
“The opposition parties are in the minority. There has been spending – for instance, the recent matric prayer – which was not budgeted for. These are things that the auditor will flag, do you then blame the DA councillor for them?”
IFP leader in eThekwini, Mdu Nkosi said this was a political statement.
“When a councillor plays an oversight role, they are accused of interfering. There are things like tenders where councillors are not supposed to get involved. How do you hold them responsible for that?”
A councillor in Msunduzi, who did not want to be named, said it was not fair to punish councillors over audit outcomes.
“You must remember that senior people at municipalities are deployed by the ruling party, their level of education is much higher than councillors. If they get involved in corruption, you cannot expect a councillor to take responsibility. Councillors should be penalised if they are involved in the corruption.”
Dube-Ncube indicated on Tuesday that she was fed up with the current stalemate at the Nquthu Municipality, saying it was costing her department a fortune and councillors were being paid while not working.
Five months after the August 3 elections, the municipality is yet to form a council.
The stalemate has led to the Nquthu Municipality and the uMzinyathi District Municipality being placed under administration.
Five attempts to form a council have failed and the sixth attempt was cancelled at the 11th hour due to security concerns late last year.
“The situation cannot continue like this,” said Dube-Ncube.
Giving up on finding a solution would mean an election rerun, she said.
The IFP has accused Dube-Ncube of taking instructions from the ANC to frustrate the forming of the council so the municipality could be forced into a rerun.
Dube-Ncube has rubbished the claim.
She said on Tuesday the provincial department was spending a fortune dealing with the stalemate.
“All the councillors are getting paid every month yet they are not working for their communities. I know that there are some parties that follow up on their councillors, but not all parties are doing that,” Dube-Ncube said.