Most municipalities in the province are in financial distress and also have serious challenges in rendering the most basic services to residents. In June 2022, the Auditor-General (AG), Tsakani Maluleke, told Members of Parliament (MPs) that almost half (43%) of the money spent by the North West municipalities was spent irregularly.

ALSO READ: Almost half of North West municipalities' expenditure irregular

Maluleke also mentioned that these 22 municipalities either obtained unqualified opinions, qualified opinions with findings, or disclaimed opinions, making them one of the worst-performing provinces.

ALSO READ: 22 North West municipalities fail to obtain clean audits

MEC Motlalepula Rosho's move to engage with municipalities comes ahead of her Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) budget proposals. The MTEF sets out three-year spending plans for the national and provincial governments.

The meetings or series of engagements with municipalities were to allow the government at provincial and local levels to reflect on governance issues that are central to the delivery of services from a monitoring point of view. The engagements with these municipalities were to further provide a platform to review the 6 months performance which helps municipalities inform the adjustment budget process.

"The engagements are used to assess the half-yearly performance of municipalities, noting that it is a year since the councillors assumed office. Local government continues to trend, in the main for poor performance as a result of both external and internal factors regardless of various support mechanisms by National and Provincial government and other stakeholders.” The canvas for the 6th electoral term is currently blank and councillors are instrumental in deciding what the picture will look like at the end of the electoral term, either change the narrative about the municipal performance failures or maintain the status quo," Rosho added.

Rosho further pleaded with the municipalities to implement remedial actions and also advised councillors to use the recommendations to track performance and hold the administration accountable.

"We can only change the status quo to ensure that our communities receive basic services. The reviews will be concluded with other municipalities by March 2023," Rosho added.

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