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A WORD FROM PARLIAMENT
RAISING ISSUES AT THE NCOP
The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) – one of the two Houses of Parliament – is mandated to look after provincial interests.
Even as we head towards the next local government dispensation, SALGA continues its important work of making important representations to parliament, regarding issues that a ect its members, writes Rodney Weidemann
Councillor Thembi Nkadimeng, SALGA president, recently addressed the NCOP Budget and Fiscal Oversight Workshop on the issue of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the role of parliament in the oversight of the budget.
She pointed out that despite its pivotal role, local government was the last sphere to be considered and conceptualised during the formation of the current government structure. This has left it lagging behind the other two spheres, aptly demonstrated by the ongoing debate on the powers and functions of municipalities, the vertical allocation of nances from the scus and the continuing re nement of systems and policies a ecting this sphere.
The key question remaining is how do we bring about stability, capacity, institutional resilience, good governance, better resourcing and improved service delivery?
Nkadimeng suggests that although most municipalities have established Municipal Public Accounts Committees (MPACs), these are mostly undercapacitated and under-resourced – led by junior councillors, and most of their oversight recommendations have no binding e ect and no follow-through or execution.
SALGA proposed that as parliament was processing amendments to the Structures Act, that it also legislate the role of MPACs and fast-track it to formalise the role of MPACs so that they can play an e ective oversight role.
YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
During the NCOP debate on Youth Month, SALGA once again raised the issue of youth unemployment. Despite government’s fairly considerable e orts, the country’s youth remain frustrated and consequently struggle with accessing tertiary education and economic opportunities. These challenge has been further compounded by COVID-19.
Therefore, SALGA was keen to note some of the initiatives implemented by municipalities to expand youth development skills. These include: o ering bursaries in line with the developmental needs of municipalities, prioritising youth from impoverished families; skills training workshops in partnership and linking to relevant Sectoral Education and Training Authorities (SETAs); and establishing a business advice and career guidance service, as well as literacy and reading development programmes.
Other initiatives have focused on providing capacity-building for nonpro t and community-based organisations that render social programmes to the youth of the speci c municipality; assisting in facilitating the ow of information for job seekers, especially rst-time job seekers to access information about real jobs placement, linking tertiary-educated youth to job agencies seeking more targeted skills; and a drive for youth entrepreneurship to redirect youngsters towards becoming job creators instead of job seekers.
Finally, SALGA highlighted the importance of young people participating in municipal Integrated Development Planning (IDP) processes so that youth interests can be effectively included in the goals, strategies, projects, and budgets of municipalities.
WATER BOARD PROPOSED TARIFFS
SALGA undertook a review of the various water boards’ proposed tari s for 2021/22. To determine whether the tari s proposed by each water board were justi ed, SALGA took into consideration that bulk water tari increases are required to ensure that water boards remain nancially sustainable. However, this absolutely must be balanced with the need for a ordability to municipalities and end-users.
SALGA will continue to raise concerns about how water boards are driving tari increases that are deemed to be excessive, particularly in respect of sta costs. Tari increases awarded on this basis tend to disincentivise water board e ciency. Overall, the tari increases requested by water boards have not been as high as some requested previously.
It is SALGA’s view that those water boards that have adequately and realistically appraised the impact of their operating environment on their nancial models and have considered the interests of their municipal customers, have proposed the most reasonable tari increases. This year, where SALGA found the provisions for increasing input costs to be excessive, the organisation proposed adjustments.
SALGA has developed a tari assessment tool, which enables the computing of tari s by changing assumptions. The tari assessment tool also aims to standardise tari input information by water boards over time.
SALGA is pleased to report that it has met with the Department of Water, as well as National Treasury, to discuss ways it can e ectively incorporate the tool into the processes of the 2022/23 tari cycle. ▪
