Minister Tsenoli must urgently pass outstanding regulations

The DA welcomes President Jacob Zuma's decision to remove Mr Richard Baloyi from his cabinet and the announcement of Lechesa Tsenoli as the new Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. 

This is the right step in improving a department that has largely neglected the main objectives of its mandate to "develop national policies and legislation with regard to provinces and local government".  Minister Tsenoli must now show a commitment to driving his department's agenda - which has been in shambles under the leadership of Mr Baloyi - by, prioritising the passing of the regulations that fall under the Municipal Systems Amendment Act of 2011. These regulations outline the minimum competences and qualifications for municipal managers and senior managers in addition to specifying categories of misconduct that would preclude appointments. 

This Act was promulgated on 5 July 2011 but little has been done to enforce it since. In his budget speech in May 2012, Former Minister Baloyi undertook to have these regulations finalised by the end of July 2012. In a statement issued on 23 August 2012 he then indicated that they would be released at the end of August. Two years later we are yet to have sight of these regulations.

The consequences of this delay on service delivery have been considerable. During a presentation before the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs last year, it was revealed that only 44% of municipalities reviewed used vetting processes (including criminal record checks) when appointing senior managers; that reference checks are done in only 52% of cases; and that only 33% of candidates are required to complete competency tests.

The bottom line is that if you have bad municipal managers you will have bad service delivery. This cannot be tolerated for any longer. I will therefore be writing to Minister Tsenoli urging him to ensure that the regulations undergo the necessary processes in order to come into effect without any further delay and that he provide the Portfolio Committee of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs with regular updates as to its progress. I will also request that the Portfolio Committee provide the Minister with set deadlines for this to be achieved. 

The Minister now has an opportunity to show the leadership that his predecessor lacked by ensuring that these regulations, key to service delivery, are put in place.  

The millions of South Africans who continue to receive sub-standard services throughout the country deserve nothing less.

Statement issued by John Steenhuisen MP, DA Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, July 10 2013

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