Municipal leader accountability required in local government

Municipal leader

accountability required in local government

South Africa’s local government sphere can only improve if roleplayers ensure accountability for government spending and the improvement of service delivery, says Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke.

The AG made the remarks while presenting the consolidated general report on local government audit outcomes for the 2020/21 financial year during a press briefing on recently.

Her office’s latest report reflects on the audit outcomes over the five-year term of the previous local government administration.

Addressing reporters, she said trends in the report demonstrate that the fourth administration (2016-2021) left municipalities in a worse financial position than when they took office.

“The lack of improvement in municipal outcomes is an indictment on the entire local government accountability ecosystem, which failed to act and arrest the decline that continued to be characterised by service delivery challenges in municipalities.”

Therefore, she said, the report “presents a not-tobe-missed opportunity for the new administration to address the already reported audit findings”.

The AGSA required there be responsiveness "so when something goes wrong, somebody acts and makes sure that there is accountability" and "stem the losses". "When you look at the number of material irregularities (MIs), we have to shift the culture towards one where responsiveness by those that lead institutions increases, where there is ongoing attention to driving the systematic improvements in the culture of compliance within these municipalities. "For effective organisational performance, every institution needs strict processes, predictable systems, a clear set of values that are upheld through disciplined monitoring, timely and effective oversight that reward good behavior."

More than this, she said, there should be sanctions for poor performance, transgressions and deviations through effective consequence management. "Leaders of municipalities must turn their attention to systematically restoring the integrity of their institutions."

In this regard, she said leaders must stabilise and capacitate the administration in their municipalities, institutionalise strong financial management disciplines on budgeting, collecting or even expenditure. "They must enable and insist on regular, credible financial and performance report and use these to monitor and to oversee and to act," she said.

Leaders must set the right leadership tone and example around ethical conduct, discipline, action and consequences for wrongdoing. "If we all focus on the institution, institution building by identifying, confronting and addressing the real issues that make it difficult to build and sustain a culture of performance, integrity, transparency and accountability, then we shall win all of the accountability ecosystem players must pay their part. "They must support, monitor and must act swiftly and effectively," she concluded. – SAnews.gov. za

Candidate engineer ready to do his bit to improve lives

Photo by Alex Perez on Unsplash

Yajvin Rajcoomar (27) from Durban in KwaZulu-Natal is a candidate engineer at the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) where he is gaining the expertise needed to one day help South Africa come up with innovative solutions to its water challenges.

Several engineering fields were added to the scarce skills list that was gazetted in February.

Given the importance of engineering to the DWA’s core business, it runs a bursary programme to help address the shortage of skills in the water and sanitation sector. Rajcoomar is one of the promising youngsters to receive a bursary from the department’s Learning Academy.

He says he has a passion for water engineering, with a focus on hydraulic structures – which means the DWS is the perfect fit for him.

The water-engineering field mainly focuses on the continuous development, maintenance and risk management associated with water infrastructure. Potential risks include the injury and loss of life due to infrastructure failure, damage to the environment and the overall impact of water infrastructure on the country’s economic growth.

Rajcoomar’s journey

He obtained a BSc Civil Engineering degree from the University of KwaZuluNatal three years ago and immediately went to work for the DWA as a candidate engineer in the department’s four-year graduate programme, he says.

Rajcoomar says he was fortunate enough to work in two different chief directorates of the department. During his time at the Infrastructure Development Directorate, his duties mainly consisted of the management of large capital projects, such as dams, pipelines, and canals. He is currently based in the Engineering Services Directorate, where his duties include providing technical support for the design, implementation and quality assurance of hydraulic structures and open channel conveyance systems.

Rajcoomar was honoured to be part of the engineering team responsible for assessing damage to infrastructure after the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal.

“I was tasked with compiling high-level conditional assessments for damaged infrastructure in local district municipalities,” says Rajcoomar.

As a young South African, Rajcoomar feels extremely honoured to be part of the DWS where he is able to provide valuable contributions to improving the lives of citizens across the country. “Knowing that daily your work affects millions of South Africans drives me to work harder and provides me with a sense of fulfilment and job satisfaction.”