Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has met with the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Dada Morero, to discuss serious concerns the National Treasury has raised regarding the City’s finances.
“These concerns relate to financial sustainability and compliance with the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (MFMA) by the metropolitan municipality.
"In terms of its constitutional and statutory mandate, National Treasury exercises oversight over the financial affairs of municipalities and is obligated to act where it observes material risks to fiscal sustainability and compliance with the legislative framework governing public finances,” the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.
The meeting was part of the natural and regular oversight and engagement activities undertaken by the Minister and the National Treasury, and follows a confidential letter recently leaked to the media that Godongwana had sent to Mayor Morero, calling for the engagement.
“The meeting on Friday between Minister Godongwana and Mayor Morero, and their respective teams of officials and technical experts, was robust and productive.
The engagements are ongoing and are being treated with the urgency that they merit, and while Minister Godongwana fully accepts the public interest in the matters, it would not be appropriate to detail the full scope of those discussions at this time,” said the Ministry.
The Minister has assured residents of Johannesburg that the National Treasury continues to pursue a constructive resolution to the issues that are in the interests of service delivery and financial sustainability.
Describing the meeting as “productive,” Godongwana said Mayor Morero has agreed that he and his officials must go back and consider some serious remedial actions to address the issues raised.
“They will soon submit a formal report to the Treasury in response to the letter that I sent,” said Godongwana. -SAnews.gov.za
