The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Eastern Cape has noted and welcomes the 2015 – 2016 Local Government Audit Outcomes as released by the auditor General, Kimi Makwethu on 21 June 2017.
The Auditor General reported improvements in the audit report on many of the Eastern Cape municipalities.
As the SACP, we welcome the improvements in many of the Eastern Cape municipalities. We wish to congratulate both the political and administrative leadership of the municipalities which registered improvements. We wish that more focus will be on improving servicing the people rather than palace politics battles which has nothing to do with the mandate of the municipalities.
As the party, we are of the firm view that these improved audit outcomes should translate to the improvement in the delivery of the basic services to the people. The improvements should be evident in the socio-economic conditions of the people in the respective areas, it should not only be about good books that are aloof from the realities confronted by the workers and the poor on daily basis.
We are concerned by the poor performance of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality, Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, O.R Tambo Municipality and Alfred Nzo District Municipality, which are among the top ten irregular spenders in the country. It is our considered view that decisive action should be taken to ensure effective turnaround in these municipality.
The Eastern Cape Department of Local Government & Traditional Affairs should get closer to these municipalities in improving the situation, as it appears that little is done on the previous audit outcomes. The Department must also work with the improved municipalities to ensure that they do not regress in the next audit.
Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality and Alfred Nzo are part of the areas that were identified by the provincial alliance summit as hotspots which are engulfed by intense political infighting and deep-seated corruption. It is in this context that as the party, we are calling upon African National Congress (ANC) headed alliance to expedite the process of visiting these areas, for us play our leadership role in contributing to finding solutions in all these problems.
Part of the things that needs an urgent attention is the accountability on the management of municipal affairs, whether these municipalities have established strong internal controls, business links with politicians and senior administrators, the extent of rent seeking, patronage networks, etc.
Issued by the SACP Eastern Cape