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The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) today held a follow-up meeting with the provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) on Covid-19-related expenditure.
 
The committee scheduled this follow-up meeting with the KZN government after it resolved it would meet with all nine provinces regarding consequence management of those officials implicated in unlawful self-enrichment through the misuse and abuse of Covid-19 funds, as detailed in the Auditor-General’s (AG) and Special Investigative Unit’s (SIU) reports.
 
In KZN, the AG also selected the municipalities of eThekwini Metro, iLembe, uMkhanyakude, uThukela and Zululand Districts for audit of Covid-19 municipal relief funds.
 
The committee has noted the expenditure reports from the various provincial departments, which include Health, Social Development, Human Settlements, Education, Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs and provincial Treasury. The committee has also noted that other departments such as Education have started the process of consequence management for those officials implicated in misusing Covid-19 funds.
 
The committee also expressed their appreciation of the KZN Premier, Mr Sihle Zikalala, for always being present when the provincial government briefs the committee. Premiers are the face of the executive in that sphere of government and the committee notes the inputs from the premier, which answer some of the committee’s questions on the issue
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The committee plans to have further follow-up meetings with the KZN provincial government, particularly as it is interested in the outcomes of all the consequence management cases. The anticipated follow-up meeting is also in respect of the current national disaster declared for the province following the recent floods.

Issued by the Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Fikile Xasa