The GPL Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs & Human Settlements
The Gauteng Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs & Human Settlements Portfolio Committee heard a presentation from the Gauteng Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) regarding its annual report for 2015/16 on Friday, November 4 at the Sokhulumi Traditional Leaders’ office.
In its report, CoGTA says that it hit 85% of its performance targets, including 100% of those in its Traditional Institutional Management programme and 92% of its goals for Administration. However, it only spent 91% of its R407m budget over the year – partly because it hasn’t been able to acquire a building that was linked to an R27m line item earmarked for capital expenditure. CoGTA noted that this was an improvement on 2014/15, when the underspend was 17% of total budget.
Much of the rest of the underspend, CoGTA argued in its annual report, was due to a lower salary bill because it hadn’t managed to recruit to several critical positions: the Portfolio Committee questioned this, arguing that the target for the year was 60% of critical vacant positions to be filled, whereas the total proportion of critical positions filled was 73%. CoGTA exceeded its target for employment equity.
One particular concern that was raised as a result of the Department’s underspend was the knock-on effect to small businesses in the area who rely on government spending for growth. In particular, the Portfolio Committee raised concerns that 1% of service providers were not paid within 30 days during the 2015/16 financial year as prescribed by the Public Finance Management Act. CoGTA argued that this was primarily due to the expiration of tax clearance certificates on behalf of service providers, but the Portfolio Committee appealed to the Department to pay all bills within 30 days because of the serious implications for small businesses caused by late payment.
CoGTA has a mandate regarding the transformation and administration of local government, which covers capacity building within municipalities. In its annual report, CoGTA points out that only 17% of municipalities within the region received an adverse audit this year – and highlights particular issues within Westonaria and Randfontein, which it describes as ex-mining towns with high unemployment, and raises concerns about the future of local government in these areas.
The Portfolio Committee queried plans for remedial action in those municipalities that were struggling to comply with submission and preparation of paperwork for budget and implementation plans, and requested more details regarding the municipalities which reported that they didn’t have the right numbers of staff in their internal audit departments.
Over the course of the year, CoGTA produced four reports on fraud, corruption and maladministration cases reported and investigate, hitting its target. The Portfolio Committee asked for more details on the findings of these reports and what punitive action had been taken as a result – it also pointed out that a further report regarding anti-corruption and maladministration technical working groups hadn’t been filed by the end of the year, and queried why this was being carried out in partnership with the provincial premier’s office.
Portfolio Committee on Infrastructure Development
On November 1, at a portfolio committee meeting chaired by Lindiwe Lasindwa, the public was given information on the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development’s Annual Report, showing an unqualified audit report for 2015/16. The department had a budget of R2 413 814 000 and spent R2 413 346 000, which translates to 100% of the allocated budget. The Committee notes with concern that while during the year under review the Department managed to spent all its allocated budget, the Department had 89 targets and managed to achieve only 50 of these. This is of extreme concern to the Committee as it indicates that there is still a misalignment between the input and output. The Department could not achieve all its targets due to poor performance by contractors which has been the case over the past years. As part of the Committee’s intervention to assist the Department to address issues that are posing a challenge in the execution of its mandate, the Committee has conducted Focused Intervention Studies that dealt with issues of planning, monitoring and Evolution in order to ensure that there is improvement in processes such as completions of projects within the agreed period, agreed budget, and that contractors are paid on time.
Portfolio Committee on Community Safety
During a public meeting in Kagiso on October 28 by the Portfolio Committee on Community Safety chaired by Sochayile Khanyile, it was shared that during the 2015/16 financial year, the Gauteng Department of Community Safety received an unqualified audit. The Department received a total allocation of R736-million and only spent R714.7-million — 97% of the allocated budget. The Department managed to achieve 83% of its targets for the year under review. During its analysis, the Committee noted that monitoring and evaluation of the South African Police Service by the Department remains a challenge, especially with regard to compliance with the Domestic Violence Act. The Committee also managed to identify poor management and coordination of community police relations volunteer programmes such as Community Police Forum, Patrollers, Men as Safety Promoters, Youth Desks and Women as Safety Promoters. The Committee recommends intensified departmental oversight for the SAPS and consequence management for SAPS officials that do not comply with the Act. The Committee also recommends that community police relations and safety structures are supported and that each volunteer is conversant in the objectives of the structure.