The motion on provincial debts owed to Eastern Cape municipalities was defeated by the ANC in the provincial legislature last night. Despite all opposition parties uniting behind the DA to support the motion, the ANC saw fit to reject the motion.
The ANC argued that there were processes in place such as intergovernmental forums and the municipal “Turnaround Plan” that would address the issue.
The problem is that these convoluted processes take ages to resolve anything and as such will only result in the debt situation in the province deteriorating further.
The MEC for Local Government was clueless as to the exact debt figure owed by provincial departments for the province.
By rejecting the motion the ANC have broken the law in terms of the many provisions of the Public Finance Management Act and are not prepared to take disciplinary action against those officials who have caused fruitless and wasteful expenditure by allowing interest in the amount of R4,3 million to accumulate.
This condoning of maladministration by the ANC is contradictory to the statement made earlier by the Speaker earlier in the day in his policy speech where he committed the Legislature and all in it to increased and better effective oversight of provincial departments.
This matter will not rest here.
The DA and the other opposition parties will not be intimidated by these ANC tactics.
I will be posing a written question to the MEC for Local Government asking him for the full outstanding amounts owed by every provincial department to every municipality in this province.
Once this information is at hand the matter will be vigorously pursued further until outstanding payment is made to all municipalities in the province.
For further information, please contact Dacre Haddon, MPL on 079 694 3788
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