Masondo laments failure by municipalities to generate revenue

THE National Council of Provinces (NCOP) yesterday lamented the inability of most of the country’s municipalities to generate revenue and a lack of capacity to manage finances as some of the persisting challenges that impacted development at a local level.

NCOP chairperson Amos Masondo was addressing a gathering of the South African Local Government Association (Salga) National Members Assembly in preparation for the fifth term of local government which will follow local government elections on October 27.

“This is particularly the case with many rural municipalities that have poor revenue bases and also experience difficulties with attracting talent. Observers have noted that despite the population shift from rural to urban areas, the health and well-being of the entire population will continue to depend on rural goods and services. This is a reminder that the rural areas and rural municipalities do matter,” Masondo said.

He urged national and provincial governments to support, assist and strengthen municipalities instead of seeking to usurp their powers amid concerns over a growing number of repeat interventions in troubled municipalities.

Masondo, a former chairperson of Salga, said that many of the issues that often triggered Section 39 interventions at councils would not exist if the three spheres of government worked with one another in mutual trust and good faith in accordance with the Constitution. “Our concern is that this failure to advance these constitutional principles might suggest a tendency to simply want to take over powers of local government,” Masondo said.

He said national and provincial governments should act in accordance with Section 141 of the Constitution which directs these two spheres of government to support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities to manage their own affairs, exercise their powers and perform their functions.

He lamented that the interventions by provinces had been used as an instrument to achieve political ends, adding that they were also concerned with a worrying trend that there was no uniformity in the application of Section 139 across provinces or within a province.

Salga president Thembisile Nkadimeng also told the gathering of the NMA that the Salga Statutory Affairs Committee would look into the matter of the members of the association’s NEC and PECs “facing challenges” with the law enforcement agencies and proposed governance and reputation management protocols.