Johannesburg - The ANC in Gauteng is forging ahead with its plans to revive the financial state of its provincial municipalities including the City of Joburg and Tshwane despite protests by the DA.
The ANC in Gauteng claims that their concerned at the deteriorating state of local government saying it has a negative impact on the delivery of effective and affordable basic services to the people of our province.
ANC spokesperson Tasneem Motara said the ANC has convened a local government summit to confront challenges facing this critical sphere of government and propose measures aimed at ensuring that municipalities in Gauteng remain focused on delivering on their constitutional mandate. The summit came just after the MEC for Cooperative Governance Lebogang Maile has already threatened to place 11 municipalities including Joburg and Tshwane under administration. Maile had convened a committee to advise him on placing these municipalities under administration. This, however, has been opposed the DA which is at the helm of both metros.
DA’s John Moodey said the financial state of the two metros had improved since his party took over control in 2016. According to the DA, it has inherited financial irregularities from the past when these metros were under the control of the ANC.
But Motara is adamant that her party will at their summit on Sunday come up with strategies to deal with the troubles in the local municipalities.
“The summit will, among others, discuss the key outcomes from the midterm assessment report of municipal performance for the period 2016 to 2018/9. It will also deliberate on the 2017/18 Audit Outcomes report released by the Auditor General South Africa in June 2019 which painted a worrying picture on the state of local government and called for a need for stronger internal controls and commitment of political and administrative leadership to rigorously monitor performance information and action plans for redress,” Motara said.
She said the summit is expected to find sustainable solutions for the above mentioned status so that all Gauteng municipalities can obtain and sustain clean audit reports.