The Gauteng Provincial Government has established five work streams in an effort to support the Emfuleni Local Municipality as it is faced with challenges of service delivery and financial management.
“Section 139 of the Constitution gives the provincial executive of a province the authority to intervene when a municipality cannot or does not fulfill its executive obligations,” the Gauteng Provincial Government said in a statement on Monday.
Since November 2015 the provincial departments of Treasury and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) have been working with the Emfuleni Local Municipality to put an action plan that will ensure that it meets its constitutional obligations.
“Section 154 of the Constitution enjoins national and provincial government to support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities to manage their own affairs and perform their functions in order to meet their constitutional obligations,” the Gauteng Provincial Government said.
The municipality is currently struggling to deliver services to community members and has financial problems.
The current leadership of the municipality under Mayor Jacob Khawe has been working very hard, together with the provincial government departments to address various institutional and financial issues.
“Despite these efforts, the financial position of Emfuleni Local Municipality is continuing to deteriorate to a point where the municipality is not able, alone, to guarantee the provision of minimum standard of services to communities without an intervention from the national and provincial government,” the provincial government said.
To address the challenges faced by the municipality, the provincial government has intervened.
“Provincial Executive Council decided to institute a comprehensive intervention plan in line with Section 139 in in order to ensure minimum standards of service delivery to communities and ensure financial viability through a financial recovery plan,” the provincial government said.
Through this comprehensive intervention, the provincial government will work with the current leadership of the municipality to address service delivery minimum requirements and financial challenges over the next six months.
The provincial intervention will be structured into five work streams that will focus on service delivery and enhancing revenue collection.
With regards to service delivery, the work streams will focus on water and storm water infrastructure; sanitation; energy and electricity; cleaning and waste management; roads, maintenance, resurfacing and fleet managements; infrastructure as well as human settlement.
Enhanced revenue collection and engagements with Rand Water and Eskom to agree on debt repayment terms so that there is no disruption to the supply of water and electricity for communities.
“The Premier will convene monthly meetings with the Mayor, MECs and Members of the Mayoral Committee to review progress on the intervention with regard to service delivery improvements and financial recovery interventions.
“Once a week, the Premier and the Mayor will join the teams that are working in communities to fix potholes and participate in the clean-up campaign,” the provincial government said. – SAnews.gov.za
