Capacitating newly elected municipal mayoral committee members of finance

Western Cape Finance Minister, Dr Ivan Meyer together with senior officials from the Provincial Treasury met with newly elected Mayco members for Finance and mayors of Western Cape Municipalities with the aim of capacitating municipalities with the necessary financial management skills.

The Minister Mayoral Committee which met for two days at Goudini Spa near Rawsonville, interacted with various experts and learned from peers through success stories shared.

Minister Meyer said that Finance Members of Municipalities must have the necessary skills and knowledge in budget planning, implementation, oversight and reporting. “It is important to instil good financial governance for sustainable development which leads to public value and service delivery. Mayoral committee members of Finance must become political technocrats.” said Minister Meyer.

An executive in the Office of the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA), Mr Jan van Schalkwyk also addressed the group and stressed the importance of improved audit outcomes, even though audits within the Western Cape Municipalities are at an acceptable level, there is always room for improvement particularly in the areas of performance auditing. Municipalities were also advised of the various services AGSA can provide.

It was clear that the municipal budget is an important tool to improve service delivery. Other topics that were addressed included the role of mayors and financial managers, revenue and expenditure management, supply chain management, risk management, internal audits, asset management, infrastructure and municipal financial reporting.

Provincial Treasury officials offered their advice and guidance to support municipalities in achieving clean audits and to offer training to capacitate municipal staff when requested.