BACKGROUND:

 

The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, formerly Local Government was renamed recently to realign it with National imperatives. With 21 Municipalities and 59 Traditional Leaders in Mpumalanga, the department’s role is to monitor and support the two institutions to discharge their mandate and responsibilities. The department will continuously be responsible to strengthen Cooperative Governance in the province as well as to improve the development of Capacity of the Institution of Traditional leaders.

 

This means we will make government work and function better in a more integrated way and ensure that the institutions of Traditional leaders are transformed, to play a big role in partnering with government to accelerate development. In the 2008/09 financial year the department held successful elections to reconstitute the traditional councils. The elections were held to elect 40% members of the Traditional Councils and Traditional leaders appointed 60% to represent them in the councils.

 

Over the years, municipalities have had to grapple with challenges in discharging their full mandate, owing to lack of adequate resources such as funds and expertise. Consequently, the majority of municipalities failed to comply with legislative prescripts such as the Municipal System’s Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), however, the situation has now been turned around through the intervention of the department.

 

This intervention has seen an increase in municipalities that receive unqualified reports in respect of Financial Statements by the Auditor-General, while the number of those with disclaimers have been reduced gradually. The department is also helping municipalities with Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and Local Economic Development (LED) in order for them to be financially viable.

 

We have also seen an increase in the spending patterns of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) and an increase in the number of homesteads who have access to water and electricity. Since the inception of the MIG programme up to December 2008 R3,913 billion worth of projects have been registered. Through the MIG programme, more than 706 000 households were provided with basic clean water. More than 196 000 were provided with basic access to sanitation and more than 773 000 households were provided with basic roads and infrastructure. | CONTINUE | >>

 

 

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