Sol Plaatje must turn streetlights on for festive season
| by Reinette Liebenberg, MPL – DA Northern Cape Provincial Spokesperson on Agriculture, Land Reform, Rural Development and Nature Conservation |
| Date: 07 August 2020 |
| Release: Immediate |
| Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbites in English & Afrikaans from Reinette Liebenberg, MPL. The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape is deeply concerned about the failure of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, Rural Development and Nature Conservation to pay outstanding debt owed to municipalities.This comes after a recent SCOPA and COGHSTA virtual oversight meeting revealed that the Ga-Segonyana Local municipality has once again been pushed into a corner, with no option but to take the department to court in August. This comes after the department has failed to pay outstanding debt to the municipality.It is clear that the accounting officer of the Agriculture Department is not acting in the best financial interest of the municipality, as prescribed in the PFMA Section 38 which states that an accounting officer for a department must ensure that the department has and maintains effective, efficient and transparent systems of financial and risk management, as well as internal control.It is unacceptable for public funds, and ultimately taxpayer’s funds, to be handled in such an irresponsible manner that necessitates wasting monies on legal fees because of government’s inability to amicably resolve issues. It is even more concerning to note that this will not be the first time that the municipality has had to escalate the matter to the courts, as members were alerted of the previous default judgement against this department.The DA is a firm believer of consequence management and we will therefore request the department, together with the Office of the Premier, to clarify and make available the amounts spent on previous court cases, as well as the costs of the current court case. We will also request a detailed report and mitigation on all outstanding accounts owed to municipalities.We are calling for disciplinary action to be taken against the accounting officer of the Agriculture Department who should have foreseen this risk and prevented it.Departments need to prioritise consequence management so as to avoid the wasteful or irregular expenditure of public funds. |
| Media Enquiries |
| Reinette Liebenberg, MPLDA Northern Cape Provincial Spokesperson on Agriculture, Land Reform, Rural Development and Nature Conservation071 7332 640 Chrystal FrancisResearcher079 2260 991 |
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