STATEMENT: Minister welcomes best municipality reports, clarifies administration | Western Cape Government

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STATEMENT: Minister welcomes best municipality reports, clarifies administration

22 May 2018

Minister welcomes best municipality reports, clarifies administration comments

22 May 2018

Statement by Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell.

A independent report released last week by ratings agency Ratings Afrika, has found that the Western Cape’s municipalities are the best performing municipalities in the country.
Anton Bredell, the minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning in the Western Cape, has welcomed the report and says that a lot of hard work goes into making municipalities work.
“It is pleasing to note that our score has improved year on year.”
Bredell says the agency evaluates the operating performance, liability management, budget practices and liquidity position of each municipality in compiling its data. Some of the facts highlighted by the agency includes:

Across the eight major metros, only Cape Town and Tshwane had an operating profit (of R3.36 billion and R730 million, respectively), while the rest had a combined operating loss of R5.14 billion.

Western Cape municipalities combined scored 62%, the highest among all the provinces. The average score for the entire country was 41%. Gauteng scored 30% and the Free State 19%.
Mossel Bay and Swartland (Malmesbury) municipalities were the joint top municipalities in South Africa.

“This is the latest of multiple independent agencies including the Auditor General, saying the same thing. While we have many challenges and shortcomings, overall the best run municipalities in South Africa are in the Western Cape,” says Bredell.

Administration when it comes to current interventions in municipalities in the province, Bredell provided the following update:

“Not one municipality in the Western Cape is currently under administration or being placed under administration. At the moment, there is an ongoing intervention in Bitou and George in terms of Section 106 of the Municipal Systems Act. Implementing section 106 DOES NOT mean a council is being placed under administration.”

Bredell says one of the final measures and tools that form part of s 106 includes placing a council under administration in terms of S139 of the constitution. But this is not always automatically the case.

“And we try to avoid it as far as we can. It is always the last resort when all other measures have failed. We do not want to see any council placed under administration because that could impact service delivery, but we will not hesitate to do so if it comes down to it. We have shown in recent past with Oudtshoorn and Kannaland we will not hesitate to step in when we have to.”

Water Update

Finally, Bredell has urged the public to continue to use water sparingly,
“The Western Cape remains in a drought crisis and we see dam levels remain stubbornly low. We remain in close consultation with our national counterparts who are the lead roleplayers in drought alleviation but we must urge the public to continue to save water.”

The latest dam level data per the National Department of Water and Sanitation:

ENDS.

Media Enquiries: 

James-Brent Styan
Spokesperson for the Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell
Mobile: 084 583 1670
Telephone: 021 483 2820
E-mail: James-Brent.Styan@westerncape.gov.za