Cape Town - Delivering his 2023 state of the nation address which mainly focused on the ongoing power crisis faced by the country, President Cyril Ramaphosa also touched on the state of municipalities.
The president said the state of the majority of municipalities was worrisome and he blamed poor governance for that.
Ramaphosa - Too many of our municipalities, 163 out of 257 are dysfunctional or in distress due to poor governance, ineffective and sometimes corrupt financial & administrative management
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) February 9, 2023
and poor service delivery. The government is implementing a number of interventions. @IOL
According to Ramaphosa, 163 out of 257 municipalities are dysfunctional or in distress due to poor governance, ineffective and sometimes corrupt financial and administrative management and poor service delivery.
In response to this crisis, Ramaphosa said his government is implementing a number of interventions to address failures at the local government level and improve basic service delivery.
“These include enhancing the capacity of public representatives and officials, maintaining and upgrading local infrastructure, and invoking the powers of national government to intervene where municipalities fail to meet their responsibilities,” he said.
Ramaphosa added that a professional public service, staffed by skilled, committed and ethical people, is critical to an effective state and ending corruption, patronage and wastage.
“In response to the State Capture Commission and in line with the framework for the professionalisation of the public service, integrity assessments will become a mandatory requirement for recruitment to the public service and entry exams will be introduced.
“We are amending legislation and strengthening the role of the Public Service Commission to ensure that qualified people are appointed to senior management positions and to move towards creating a single, harmonised public service,” he said.
On the issue of fighting corruption and implementing the recommendations of the state capture commission, Ramaphosa said arrests have been made and the country should be proud of that.
“The recommendations of the Commission are being implemented according to the plan that I submitted to Parliament in October last year so that the systemic weaknesses identified by the Commission are addressed and state capture is never allowed to occur again.
“The National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council, consisting of people from across society, is in place to advise on suitable mechanisms to stem corruption, including an overhaul the institutional architecture for combating corruption.
Another issue Ramaphosa said they are tackling was the protection of witnesses and amending legislation to protect whistle-blowers.
“We are working to capacitate the Witness Protection Unit and will introduce amendments to the Protected Disclosures Act and Witness Protection Act to strengthen protections for whistle-blowers.
“Work is already under way to improve access to the witness protection programme for public servants that expose maladministration, corruption and unethical conduct.
“We will finalise the draft Public Procurement Bill to address weaknesses identified by the State Capture Commission and improve efficiency, value for money and transparency.
“Our reinvigorated law enforcement agencies are taking firm action against companies and individuals alleged to have been involved in state capture.
“The NPA Investigating Directorate, which I established in 2019, has taken 187 accused persons to court in 32 state capture and corruption cases.
“Over R7 billion has so far been returned to the state from state capture cases.
“To date, R12.9 billion of funds and assets have been frozen.
“This year, the Investigating Directorate will be established as a permanent entity within the NPA,” he said.
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