Improvements in operations and oversight duties within municipalities can only be achieved if the technical abilities of Municipal Public Accounts Committees (MPACs) are enhanced, Grant Thornton public sector advisory head Terry Ramabulana has argued. 

Ramabulana, who recently conducted a South African Local Government Association (Salga) workshop on financial management and oversight for councillors, believed that MPACs, which had the authority to question irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, could dramatically increase municipal financial accountability.

“In addition, compliance with the requirements of the Auditor General (AG) and assisting in offsetting service delivery protests would also be achieved.

“However, the committees have not yet realised the desired impact in achieving unqualified, clean audits by the AG, who recorded more than R2-billion in irregular municipal expenditure in 2014,” he said in a statement on Monday.

According to last year’s AG reports, 22% of government departments and public entities that reported in terms of the Public Finance Management Act had achieved clean audits. 

However, just 5% of those that accounted under the Municipal Finance Management Act achieved clean audits, which Ramabulana described as “very concerning”.

He added that, among the key challenges raised by councillors that attended the Salga workshop earlier this month, was the urgent need for hands-on support and continuous training to improve the functioning of these committees.

“There is a distinct lack of technical financial insight, which can only be gained through experience, formal education or both. Most of these councillors are not political careerists but have been given an opportunity to govern as the voice of their communities.

“When the members are appointed to the committees they do not get support, or the requisite respect from the authorities. They are also not aware of the protocols and often are seen as nothing more than a rubber stamp for municipal business,” Ramabulana outlined.

He believed the responses from the delegates could be viewed as a sample of the national challenges and that improvements to the current system could drastically improve public sector financial management and the related delivery of basic services.

“We sensed a deep frustration from delegates around the inability to manage the processes. There was clearly a need to understand the meaning and impact of their role within municipalities; as well as technical competencies, such as the audit process and the submission of financial statements; and the functions of audit and performance management committees, among others,” he said.

According to Ramabulana, the situation could be remedied through improved cooperation between government bodies, including Salga, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the AG and National Treasury, which could provide the much-needed structure and guidance to the MPACs through one unified channel.

“It is encouraging to note that delegates want to improve skills to better manage these MPAC roles. Training will allow the councillors to think analytically and guide their questioning of the municipal office bearers on for example irregular expenditure or overspending,” he said.

Councillors would also need to be trained in the understanding of project management principles, he advised, as this could directly benefit the wards and communities they represented.

The councillors could then effectively report back to their communities and possibly assist in offsetting the continually rising levels of frustration that often escalated into violent service delivery protests.

“MPACs must be advocates of good governance and, in consultation with audit committees, its members should be spearheading the clean audit drive on behalf of their municipalities.

“If the members of the MPACs can’t do this, then they are not fit to take office. The Public Office Bearer’s Act states that integrity is very important, especially in leadership positions,” Ramabulana concluded.