Pretoria - None of South Africa's nine provinces has declared a disaster caused by floods, Co-operative Governance Minister Lechesa Tsenoli said on Friday.
“The latest report was saying provinces and municipalities are reporting that so far they are coping with some of those instances,” Tsenoli told journalists in Pretoria.
He said assessments by government to establish the cost of damage caused by the natural disasters had not been concluded.
“We know that the speed [with] which we are able to do assessments that give us the costs is an area which requires huge improvement and we are working on that,” the minister said.
“It is early days to determine those costs. We don't have them yet,” said Tsenoli.
On the employment of suitably qualified staff to administer municipalities across the country, Tsenoli said regulations were being tightened.
Policies governing the appointment of senior managers were aimed at preventing the rehiring of “unsuitable managers” who might have been dismissed elsewhere or were facing disciplinary processes.
“We have agreed with Treasury that, for example, in the area of financial management we are giving people (already employed by municipalities but lacking skills) 18 months to acquire the specific qualifications,” Tsenoli said.
He said those who didn't have the skills after that period would have to “look for jobs”.
New regulations also required municipal managers to declare their financial interests on a regular basis, and prohibited management from holding positions in political parties, the minister said.
Sapa