Gauteng COGTA underspends by over R21 million while municipalities struggle to deliver services

5 October 2023

Gauteng residents, particularly those in municipalities under the ANC coalition, continue to suffer without access to basic services such as regular refuse removal, water, and tarred roads. This happens while the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) underspends by R21 095 000.

This money, which could have been used to provide support to struggling municipalities, will be surrendered to the Provincial Revenue Fund (PRF).

This information was revealed in the department’s annual report for the 2022/23 financial year.

According to the department’s annual report under review, the department has underspent its budget by R5.5 million on Programme 1: Administration, R11.3 million on Programme 2: Local Governance, R200 000 on Programme 3: Development and Planning, and R4.2 million on Programme 4: Traditional Institutional Management.

Furthermore, it has failed to meet several of its set targets for the 2022/23 financial year. The Gauteng Spatial Development Framework was not finalised, and only six local municipalities received ongoing support with technical skills capacity through multi-disciplinary teams (engineering and town planning) against a target of nine.

One municipality, Emfuleni Local Municipality, was supported to implement an online metering system for large power users and commercial customers against a target of two. The department only held one planning meeting for the anti-GBVF programme for traditional leadership, against the target of two.

This department has underspent across all its four major programmes while failing to meet all its set targets. This clearly indicates a lack of planning and management skills in the department. This department is failing to spend money to support municipalities, which are plagued by enormous challenges ranging from a lack of experts, failing to settle debt owed to service providers and failing to deliver basic services.

The DA demands that the Gauteng MEC for COGTA, Mzi Khumalo, implement a turn-around strategy to ensure that this department delivers on its mandate and spends on its allocated budget for the benefit of Gauteng residents who do not have access to basic services.

Issued by Solly Msimanga, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and E-Government, 5 October 2023