Pretoria - Power has been restored back to the Limpopo provincial government in terms of the withdrawal of administrators from that province.
“The national and Limpopo provincial government have agreed the terms of withdrawal of administrators from the province with effect from the end of January 2015.
“This means that the MECs of the affected provincial departments have assumed their full executive powers and the accounting officer roles have reverted back to the heads of departments (HODs),” the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on the Limpopo Intervention said on Monday.
In 2011, Cabinet placed five Limpopo departments under administration. In July last year, government announced that the province was no longer under administration.
The IMC said the intervention has brought a significant level of financial health to the province. It has also initiated a number of important projects that the province could carry into the future under the leadership of the provincial Executive Council and the guidance of national departments.
The projects include the implementation of new systems for asset management (Public Works), supply chain management (Provincial Transport) and the development of revised organisational structures for the Provincial Treasury.
“The signing of the memorandum on 15 December 2014 marked the beginning of the transition from the administration by national government of the five provincial departments -- Treasury, Basic Education, Roads and Transport, Public Works and Health -- in terms of section 100 (1) (b) of the Constitution to section (1) (a), in terms of which national government issues directives to the five affected departments,” said the IMC.
However, to ensure an orderly handover, administrators will still be part of preparing the annual financial accounts for 2014/15, which ends on 31 March 2015.
This will allow the administrators to close the books for the department they have been administering and prepare the relevant hand-over reports.
“It will also allow the five MECs and HODs to assume full responsibility for financial accounts for the 2015/16 financial year starting on 1 April.”
According to National Treasury, since the signing of the agreement in December, several actions have been initiated, including a handover workshop between heads of provincial departments and the team of national government administrators, which took place last Tuesday.
An approach is being developed to use the experience of the team of administrators for the purpose of monitoring the implementation of section 100 (1) (a) directives by the Limpopo province.
Handover engagements are also continuing in each department that was under the intervention. The process to complete a formal comprehensive close-out report is underway, with this report to be submitted to both Cabinet and the Provincial Executive in due course.
“The 15 December 2014 agreement is in line with the Cabinet decision of July 2014, which set conditions that the Provincial Executive will have to fulfil as a pre-requisite for determining complete withdrawal,” said the IMC. - SAnews.gov.za
