Tendersinfo keep you informed about the latest events in the national and international Procurement Industry. Procurement News provides in-depth coverage of the procurement industry, including contract awards, contract additions, new contract wins, mergers and acquisitions. Tendersinfo through its tender news section provides an update on all domestic and global tendering opportunities, invitation to bid & trade leads.
South Africa : Cooperative Governance on support and good governance package for Oudtshoorn Municipality
Publish Date : 02-Apr-2015
The Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Mr Andries Nel, visited the Oudtshoorn Municipality today to present a support and good governance package in terms of section 154 of the Constitution to deal with the serious challenges faced by the municipality.
The package includes the appointment of an experienced municipal manager for a period of six months to turn the municipality around, fill vacant positions, strengthen financial systems, speed up service delivery and to institute forensic investigations into allegations of illegal or irregular tenders and procurement processes. It also seeks to resolve numerous outstanding court cases and legal matters.
Regrettably the Council failed to adopt the package after the Speaker, Mr John Stoffels, refused to place the matter on the agenda in the manner requested by the majority of councillors. The failure to adopt the support and good governance package was exacerbated by the failure of the municipality to adopt an adjustment budget for the 2014/15 financial year as required by the Municipal Finance Management Act. This was meant to have been done by the end of January already. The Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs urges the leadership of the Oudtshoorn Municipality to act in the best interests of the people by adopting the support and good governance package as a matter of urgency.
The package is in line with government's Back to Basics approach that seeks to ensure that municipalities serve the people by: putting people first; delivering a basic basket of quality services without interruption; practicing good governance; practicing sound financial management; and, building strong local government institutions. Deputy Minister Nel's visit follows a visit by Minister Pravin Gordhan on 20 February 2015, during which many residents and stakeholder organisations expressed serious dissatisfaction regarding the functioning of the municipality.
