Gauteng MEC warns municipalities to improve financial health and service delivery
Image: File
Gauteng MEC for Infrastructure Development and Cooperative Governance, Jacob Mamabolo, has warned municipalities to improve their finances and service delivery to residents.
This comes as reports of infrastructure and service delivery have reportedly collapsed in some Gauteng municipalities. Mamabolo stated that while the provincial government does not wish to adopt a confrontational stance towards non-performing municipalities, it will not tolerate refusal to comply with the country's laws
Mamabolo spoke during a post-budget press briefing at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature on Wednesday.
"We promote good relations with our municipalities, and we do not believe in confrontation. This is the approach we are following. However, this does not mean we cannot enforce the laws of the country. All our municipalities must comply with them as non-compliance will not be tolerated or accepted."
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Regarding the turnaround strategy adopted by the provincial government, Mamabolo indicated that they will not impose this strategy on affected municipalities but will allow them the space to prioritise their immediate challenges.
Early this year, Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Velenkosini Hlabisa, presided over the implementation of the Municipal Performance Turnaround Strategy targeting distressed municipalities as well as the introduction of policy and legislative support measures to strengthen local government, while Mamabolo also introduced the new municipal performance management system.
"Our budget is to make sure we turn around these municipalities. We are now in a better position to implement and roll out our turnaround strategy. Municipalities have gone to IDPS, and of those, each municipality must say which priorities they are tackling in the next three years. But we are not going to impose our turnaround strategy, they must decide themselves which issues they want to resolve," he added.
Gauteng MEC for health and wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, who delivered hers on Tuesday, also briefed the media alongside MEC for human settlements, Tasneem Motara on key budget-related issues within the health department.
On health infrastructure delivery, Nkomo-Ralehoko announced that her department has allocated R1.7 billion (Health Facility Revitalisation Grant and Equitable Share) for maintenance and new capital projects, with R100 million having been ring-fenced to support the department's recapitalisation programme specifically for laundry services and theatres.
"Already, theatre refurbishments are advanced at Carletonville and Bheki Mlangeni hospitals. We are moving forward with key projects such as the Daveyton new hospital, Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital with 287 new mental health beds, and the upgrading of Johan Heyns Community Health Centre into a district hospital to meet the needs of the community," she said.
siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za
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