Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has urged the leadership of the Ditsobotla Municipality to fully embrace the national intervention to strengthen the municipality.
The Minister visited the North West municipality on Friday to officially hand over the revised Financial Recovery Plan (FRP) and outline its implementation.
The municipality was placed under administration in terms of section 139(7) of the Constitution in a bid to stabilise it.
“I can only surmise that part of the reason for eight failures is that we have not fully embraced what it means to be under an intervention. When a municipality is under intervention, it is not operating under normal conditions.
“The municipality is operating under constrained conditions with fewer financial resources. Therefore, it cannot be ‘business as usual’ in the way the day-to-day activities are run and managed. Habits, attitudes and mindsets must shift in this process.
“An intervention mindset must be adopted to kickstart recovery. I believe that officials from the Municipal Financial Recovery Services unit are already assisting the municipality with change management,” Godongwana said.
He noted that strained finances meant that it would be unlikely for the municipality to receive financial assistance.
“Neither national nor provincial interventions are accompanied by financial bailouts. However, this does not mean that other forms of support will not be provided to get you moving.
“The National Treasury will provide you with fuel by exploring options to assist the municipality with smart metering and metering for bulk supply and will investigate further opportunities for assistance,” Godongwana explained.
The municipality has already completed the Section 78 process required to sign the Distribution Agency Agreement (DAA) with Eskom where the power utility will take over revenue collection while sector departments have also committed to supporting the municipality.
Furthermore, in terms of Section 147 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, the Minister will ensure that progress reports are presented on a quarterly basis to Cabinet.
“The National Treasury will continue with oversight visits and closely monitor the implementation of the financial recovery plan through the monthly progress reporting by the municipality and through War Room meetings which will take place quarterly,” Godongwana said. – SAnews.gov.za
