The Limpopo provincial government has put support systems in place in a bid to attract and retain the best skills in the engineering, town planning, financial and project management sectors.
Premier Chupu Mathabatha said this move was aimed at building the capacity of municipalities to provide basic services, and to support local economic development through sound and flexible regulatory regimes.
Municipalities have come under scrutiny after Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu's 2017/18 report showed that only 18 of the 257 district and local municipalities nationally received an unqualified audit opinion with no findings.
18 out of a total of 257 national district and local municipalities received unqualified audits
Makwetu found that 101 municipalities had unqualified audits with findings, while 78 had qualified audits and 10 others had adverse findings.
However, it appears that Limpopo is slowly turning the tide. Mathabatha said that, during the fifth administration, much focus was placed on stabilising the provincial administration, including addressing issues of financial mismanagement and improving audit outcomes.
"We have achieved much progress in this regard, although there is still more work to be done. We have completely eliminated disclaimer and adverse audit opinions in the provincial administration," said Mathabatha.
He said that the province managed to receive two clean audit opinions during the last audit, and the number of unqualified audit opinions had increased.
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Mathabatha said the target for the current administration was to substantially reduce the number of qualified audit opinions and increase the number of clean audits, which meant issues regarding irregular expenditure needed to be dealt with.
He said he had directed the provincial treasury to provide necessary financial management support across all government departments and entities.
"This shall include but not be limited to strengthening control measures in all departments," said Mathabatha.
He said he would also sign performance agreements with MECs. Following the recent adoption of the Medium Term Strategic Framework targets, this would be done before the end of next month.
Mathabatha expressed satisfaction that there were only three municipalities that required attention regarding Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) spending.
He said the Musina Local Municipality, and the Fetakgomo-Tubatse and Modimolle-Mookgophong municipalities had spent less than 30% of their MIG allocation by December.
"We are happy with the overall performance on MIG spending. However, as I said last year in this House, our focus is now shifting from mere expenditure to impactful projects," Mathabatha said.
"Municipalities cannot be allowed to sign cheques or pay millions of rands worth of invoices for water projects while communities remain without drinking water. There should be a compatible relationship between the monies spent and the actual delivery of services on the ground. There must indeed be value for money."
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Mathabatha commended the municipalities that attained unqualified audit opinions - they include the Waterberg District Municipality and the local municipalities of Makhuduthamaga, Thulamela, Molemole and Greater Letaba.
He also singled out the Capricorn District Municipality for having achieved a clean audit opinion, as well as the Thabazimbi Local Municipality for finally getting out of the disclaimer bracket.
Mathabatha said strong and effective municipalities were necessary pillars to support the District Development Model initiative launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa last year.
Mathabatha said three municipalities had spent less than 30% of their Municipal Infrastructure Grant allocation by December
In November, the president launched the Limpopo leg of the model in Lephalale in the Waterberg District. The province has already launched the Capricorn District Development Model.
"We are convinced that the District Development Model will, among other things, be able to address the gaps in our models of service delivery," said Mathabatha.
He added that one of the gaps that was identified by Ramaphosa included the pattern of operating in silos as government. - Mukurukuru Media
