THERE'S no hope that dysfunctional municipalities can be fixed soon.
This is according to a reply by Deputy President Paul Mashatile in Parliament on Thursday, 8 May.
He told MPs government has identified 66 struggling municipalities out of 278 which need urgent intervention.
"Deteriorating levels of municipal performance have emerged as a significant constraint to growth and investment. As a result, several municipalities are affected by weak or unstable governance, poor revenue collection and funding shortfalls," said Mashatile.
He said to address these challenges, in September 2024, Cabinet resolved to establish an interministerial committee (IMC) on municipal performance turnaround plan (MPTP) chaired by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa.
He said the MPTP aims to address local government underperformance by improving governance, service delivery, budget, revenue management, and the mandatory financial recovery plan.
"The interministerial committee on MPTP will further prioritise interventions focusing on 10 municipalities deemed most distressed by the Presidency. These include Enoch Mgijima, Maluti-a-Phofung, Mafube, Kopanong, Emfuleni, Umzinyathi, Thabazimbi, Thembelihle, Ditsobotla and Mamusa local municipalities.
"Already, eight of the 10 identified municipalities have held meetings with the technical team at IMC and are currently developing their own turnaround strategies," said Mashatile.
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He said the plan is to help all struggling municipalities, but the Presidency decided to start with the 10 mentioned.
"Ideally, we would have loved to address these challenges before the local government elections next year. But obviously, it may not be possible."
He said with the second phase of Operation Vulindlela, which was launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 7 May, a lot of attention will be given to local government over and above the identified 10 municipalities.
"We will try our best to ensure that as we get to the local government elections, a lot of these are attended to."
Mashatile said after the elections there'll be no ailing municipalities.
On the withdrawal of the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar), he assured the house that government is taking measures to prevent negative effects that could result from the withdrawal of aid.
He said a report by UN aids and other partners indicates that a funding withdrawal on Pepfar in South Africa without adequate replacement could lead to a significant increase in HIV-related deaths and new infections over the next 10 years.
He pointed out that the abrupt withdrawal has already resulted in job losses and a negative impact on the national response to HIV, TB and STIs.
"Government, through the national and provincial and departments of health, has a contingency plan to address gaps resulting from this funding withdrawal to sustain the delivery of health services," said Mashatile.
