The newly appointed Finance MEC in the province, Gadija Brown, says turning around financially burdened municipalities will not happen overnight, it’s a process. Brown revealed in a briefing marking her first ten days in office, that provincial treasury has been engaging with four struggling municipalities in the province, namely, Masilonyana, Kopanong Mafube and Mohokare local municipalities to assist them in recovering from their many challenges.

The challenges, that the above-mentioned municipalities have in common, include a high salary bill, low economic growth, lack of prudent financial and consequence management revealed the department. Two of the financially distressed municipalities in the province – Masilonyana and Mafube - have been placed under provincial care, joining the embattled Maluti-A-Phofung Local Municipality in that regard. Kopanong, on the other hand, was placed under a Section 106 investigation in March 2019, instituted by the then MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Oupa Khoabane. The Municipal Manager of Kopanong, Martin Kubeka, has also been suspended pending a further probe into maladministration allegations levelled against him by disgruntled municipal workers.

A task team has already been established by the department to curb irregular and fruitless expenditure across all the municipalities and departments in the province. Brown says they have looked into collection of revenue and other service delivery challenges that the four municipalities currently face. Treasury’s eyes are now firmly placed on finding innovative ways to assist the municipalities, for example using solar energy over electricity, etc.

OFM News