DA to intensify monitoring of GBV cases in Upington
| by Fawzia Rhoda, MPL – DA Northern Cape Provincial Spokesperson on Finance |
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| Date: 25 June 2020 |
| Release: Immediate |
| Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbite in English from Fawzia Rhoda, MPL. The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape calls for an urgent meeting of all oversight bodies and relevant stakeholders to address shortcomings in municipal financial management.Information released on the 2018/19 municipal audit outcomes by the Auditor-General should set alarm bells ringing on the current levels of corruption and non-compliance at municipalities, which is likely to worsen during the ongoing public health crisis. We need stakeholders like the Northern Cape Provincial Treasury, the Office of the Premier, and the Northern Cape Department of Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements & Traditional Affairs to own their collective responsibility in supporting municipalities at the coalface of service delivery.Due to the current public health crisis, it becomes even more urgent to create a fiscal environment for compliance to thrive. Municipal disaster management is informed by financial laws like amendments to the procurement regulations, which were enacted in an attempt to make disaster responses from municipalities more efficient.Yet the audit outcomes show us that municipalities are creating an environment for corruption to thrive instead. The overall breakdown in the financial control environment has created a situation described by the Auditor-General as “a prolonged state of undesirable audit outcomes”, with six regressions in audit outcomes and four audits outstanding at the reporting date.The first breakdown in the system of checks and balances becomes clear when one considers that only one of the five district municipalities achieved a clean audit outcome in 2018/19, which is also the only clean audit in the province for the financial year. District municipalities are required to assist local municipalities with compliance and eradication of corrupt practices. But the four district municipalities without clean audit outcomes simply cannot be expected to give adequate support to the 23 local municipalities in their respective jurisdictions.The second breakdown in the control environment stems from the lack of guidance given to municipalities by oversight bodies. Municipalities are left in the dark on the requirements created in the new fiscal framework and cannot implement newly amended procurement regulations, because officials don’t know what is expected. Instead of encouraging compliance and consequence management, the current conditions are ideal for corrupt practices to become the norm in municipal financial management.We need oversight bodies to own the collective responsibility to prevent further corruption at municipal level. If we cannot help municipalities to serve residents at a time of unprecedented disaster, we are failing in our duty as public representatives. |
| Media Enquiries |
| Fawzia Rhoda, MPLDA Northern Cape Provincial Spokesperson on Finance082 408 8070 Tharina WhittakerResearcher071 251 5558 |
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