Local government representatives say they need greater representation when deals that affect their sphere are entered into.
Speaking at SALGA’s sixth national conference in Cape Town, mayors and municipal managers complained that sometimes national and provincial government enter into agreements that in the end impact negatively on their municipalities. They say some of these agreements deny local government the opportunity to raise funds.
The poor state of finances at local government level is an everlasting story. It is this issue that one of the commissions at the SALGA conference sought to tackle.
The issue of synergy between the different spheres of government emerged as one of the most thorny ones as mayors expressed frustration that they are excluded.
Speaker of the Thembisile Hani Local Municipality in Mpumalanga, Poppy Msiza, says for as long as the poorer rural municipalities are excluded from decision making, they will continue to struggle to raise revenues.
“The rural municipalities in the country are in the majority. And we must also ask ourselves a question why are we doing that. The policies that we are creating at national level don’t suit the local environment…. When there is a budget speech they will say we have consulted the stakeholders. At which level?”
The Mayor of Inxuba Yethemba Municipality in the Eastern Cape, Zonke Noncedo, says it is unfair that their roads are damaged by a project from which the municipality does not benefit.
An example is the Kuruman to Gqeberha manganese project between South Africa and China. “It might be that when the contract was signed there was never any plan to say where are these trucks gonna travel through. What they are bringing in terms of buying in our shops is less than the damage that they are doing in our infrastructure. So through this conference can we really suggest to the presidency that they must make sure that the infrastructure on that route is being fixed because as municipalities we can’t afford that.”
The Mayor of Gasegonyana Municipality in the Northern Cape, Neo Masegela, says it is unfair that municipalities are excluded when government negotiates with independent power producers. He says these IPPs should be used as an opportunity to provide municipalities with means to earn revenue. “When those engagements are taking place, municipalities are excluded. And what happens is that they even run to use the private land without considering that there are municipalities that have land to make sure that they participate.”
There were some representatives who suggested that executive mayors be paid from the national fiscus. Professor Trevor Fowler from the Financial and Fiscal Commission warned against this. “The reason I disagree with that so strongly is that “he who pays the piper calls the tune”.
