The Provincial Executive Committee (EXCO) of the North West has resolved to place eight municipalities under mandatory intervention in line with Section 139(5) (a) and ( c) of the constitution.
The affected municipalities are Madibeng, Kgetleng Rivier, Tswaing, Mahikeng, Ditsobotla, Ramotshere Moiloa and Naledi Local and Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District municipalities. This is despite the fact that these municipalities are said to be in a serious financial crisis.
The intervention comes just a few days after the Auditor-General painted a bleak picture of the North West’s municipalities.
Section 139 (5) (a) of the constitution dictates that if a municipality as a result of its financial state is not able to execute its obligation to provide services, the relevant provincial executive must intervene. The intervention will then be in a form of providing a recovery plan aimed at securing the municipality’s ability to meet its obligations.
In the case of the eight municipalities, they are reportedly on the brink of collapse and are unable to render services as expected.
North West MEC for Finance, Motlalepule Rosho, explains the process and iterates that the government will not be taking any powers away from the municipalities.
“It speaks about municipalities that are in financial distress and those municipalities are those that normally continue to adopt unfunded budgets. They have tried to do a financial recovery plan internally, and when they fail it calls for the intervention of the government. We are not taking powers of the council, we are not taking powers of the MM. You are putting a financial recovery plan process whereby it’s monitored by national treasury and provincial treasury.”
Cabinet backing
Rosho has emphasised that the intervention is supported by the cabinet. “We must also note that this is not only as per EXCO resolution, also cabinet has resolved on that. There are 43 municipalities in the country that are in financial crisis. And of those 43 municipalities, 12 are in the North West. And of the 12, EXCO, as per the directive of the Minister of Finance has resolved to invoke that because it is a mandatory intervention.”
Residents of Ditsobotla local municipality, which is one of the affected municipalities, say it is time that drastic measures be taken.
“Here in Itsoseng, we are forgotten. They only know us during elections. There are no developments, our roads are in a bad state. There is nothing happening” the resident says.
“We have a problem with roads. All of them are in our township. Even at the side of the police station, there are so bad”, laments another.
Meanwhile, the provincial treasury and local government departments will delegate experts to the affected municipalities to assist with strengthening capacity.
