KwaZulu-Natal municipalities would be closely monitored by the provincial government after they collectively under-spent by R2 billion last year, said MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nomusa Dube yesterday.
Dube said this underspending was compromising service delivery, which was essential to poor communities.
She was addressing mayors and officials from various municipalities in the province during a meeting aimed at assessing the state of the municipal performances, in Durban yesterday. eThekwini municipality was not among those at fault, as it had used more than 95 percent of its service delivery budget.
A large number of the municipalities, especially those in rural areas, had used less than 50 percent of their budget, according to Dube. She said officials in her department would visit each of these municipalities to help them improve their budget expenditure.
Underspending was a problem in the province, which had more than 400 000 people who did not have access to basic necessities such as water and sanitation, and more than 500 000 others who were without electricity, she said.
“We need to answer and formulate collective solutions on how schools and hospitals without water and electricity will be provided with these critical services, because the lack of these services has a major bearing on the right to health care and quality education for our society,” she said.
Dube said that the provincial government had enough money for the provision of service delivery, but she blamed the municipalities for failing to come up with development projects where the money could be properly spent. She said the lack of skills within local government was the main problem.
“We have, in certain instances, observed that municipal bid committees do not have the appropriate skills to draft technical specifications and evaluate technical tenders.
“We want no roll-overs and no under-expenditure when people, schools and clinics are still without basic services. We want municipal Excos (executive committees), Scopas (standing committee on public account), audit committees and full councils to hold officials accountable and discipline people where necessary,” she said.
