Daily News E-dition

Cogta ready for local government elections, assures NDZ

TARRYN-LEIGH SOLOMONS

THE Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) says it is ready for the local government elections in October.

Presenting the department’s Budget vote speech yesterday, Cogta Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma told the portfolio committee that as a result of Covid-19 challenges, the Demarcation Board handed its work to the IEC.

“We are, therefore, confident that because of the experiences we have gained in the various by-elections, we are ready for the 2021 local government elections. These 147 by-elections which we have run between November and March were in 133 wards, in all provinces and involved 866 772 voters.

“We will also use the May 19 polls, which involve 40 wards in seven provinces with 362 965 registered voters, to refine our approaches. We remain confident that the regulations, protocols and plans we have put in place for these and the nationwide October elections will create an environment for free and fair elections,” she said.

Dlamini Zuma also said the revised Covid-19 regulations enables voter canvassing and voting. She indicated that the situation will continue to be monitored as the department works closely with the IEC in the context of the Inter-ministerial Committee on Municipal Elections.

“We also believe that the elections offer all our parties an opportunity to fix the municipalities by deploying and sending our best to this sphere of government which is most important to our people.”

The department set aside R100.8 billion for the 2021/22 financial year, of which, R96bn is constituted by transfers and subsidies to municipalities.

Dlamini Zuma indicated that the department, together with the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent, maintained clean audits.

An allocation of R2.9bn in the Medium-term Expenditure Framework was made to the OR Tambo District.

Dlamini Zuma explained that this allocation has enabled the implementation of 19 water projects, 12 sanitation projects and 47 road projects.

The minister’s Budget vote was, however, not welcomed by a few opposition parties.

EFF MP Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi said since the party arrived in Parliament in 2014, they’ve had a clear, cogent and practical way “out of this mess we find ourselves in”.

DA MP Cilliers Brink said the latest Municipal Financial Sustainability Index produced by Ratings Afrika indicates that troubled municipalities need a R51bn bailout from the national government to survive a liquidity crisis.

“The DA has fought against money being diverted from basic services to bail out SA Airways and other zombie state-owned entitles.

“But this does not mean that municipalities should now be bailed out.

“If a municipality is run by a mayor and municipal manager who are corrupt or incompetent, giving that municipality more money will only increase its output of irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

“To prevent the financial and institutional collapse of municipalities, we need to dig deeper.

“We need to go back to the beginning of democratic local government,” Brink said.

METRO

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2021-05-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-05-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://dailynews.pressreader.com/article/281655372960955

African News Agency