Urgent action needed to deal with underperforming municipalities: COGTA
Newly appointed Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Zweli Mkhize says urgent action is needed to deal with underperforming municipalities.
This after news that the number of KwaZulu-Natal municipalities that received clean audits dropped in the 2016/2017 financial year.
Addressing delegates at the Local Government Indaba in Durban today, Mkhize conceded that despite previous government interventions, the performance of most municipalities still remains below expectations.
Mkhize says since the beginning of the Back to Basics Programme in 2014, aimed at rejuvenating local government, 21 municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal still remain unchanged.
A total of 14 have improved and 12 have regressed.
Mkhize says he will not accept deteriorating audit outcomes or disclaimers.
He says urgent action on the part of the affected municipalities is required and that provincial government must immediately prepare a turnaround strategy - complete with the concrete action it plans on taking to reverse the situation.
Touching on political killings and the fact that KwaZulu-Natal has the highest number in the country, Mkhize also said there is a leadership crisis.
He says this needs to be attended to before another life is lost and that the authorities must investigate whether or not corruption and procurement irregularities precipitated the deaths of councillors in some of the affected municipalities.
Addressing delegates at the Local Government Indaba in Durban today, Mkhize conceded that despite previous government interventions, the performance of most municipalities still remains below expectations.
Mkhize says since the beginning of the Back to Basics Programme in 2014, aimed at rejuvenating local government, 21 municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal still remain unchanged.
A total of 14 have improved and 12 have regressed.
Mkhize says he will not accept deteriorating audit outcomes or disclaimers.
He says urgent action on the part of the affected municipalities is required and that provincial government must immediately prepare a turnaround strategy - complete with the concrete action it plans on taking to reverse the situation.
Touching on political killings and the fact that KwaZulu-Natal has the highest number in the country, Mkhize also said there is a leadership crisis.
He says this needs to be attended to before another life is lost and that the authorities must investigate whether or not corruption and procurement irregularities precipitated the deaths of councillors in some of the affected municipalities.