The City of Johannesburg, the South African Local Government Association (Salga) and the South African Revenue Service conducted a fruitful and informative training workshop for councillors to get them to be tax compliant.
The session was divided into two parts, with the first part being for the Municipal Public Account Committee (MPAC) on Thursday, 07 April 2022, and the second for the section 79 and 80 committees on Friday, 08 April 2022. Both days of training were held at the Parktonian Hotel in Braamfontein.
The training often takes place immediately after the local government elections, when Salga hosts provincial conferences and further goes to national to elect new leadership.
“This was a very fruitful exercise, very informative for some of us who have been here for the first time as councillors,” says Ward 130 Cllr Thulani Buthelezi.
With the City having the certainty of Section 79 Committee Chairperson in place, it means residents of Joburg will be provided with fair and robust oversight in relation to the Mayoral Committee’s work in different departments and municipal entities.
The 2017-2022 strategy is premised on the fact that local government is the closest sector to the people and needs to be empowered, resourced, and capacitated to assume its crucial role in delivering quality services.
“It is important to assure residents that water will flow out of taps, lights will go on when switches are flipped, rubbish will be collected timeously and potholes will be repaired, regardless of whether one is in Sandton or the Joburg CBD,” says the City’s Executive Mayor, Cllr Mpho Phalatse.
Section 79 committees are usually temporary and appointed by the executive committee as needed. They are usually set up to investigate a particular issue and do not have any decision-making powers. Just like Section 80 committees, they can also make recommendations to council. Once they have completed their task, Section 79 committees are usually disbanded.
“Salga is an association for all municipalities in the country. It is the voice and body of municipalities and represents them in parliament. It supports them on issues related to any legislation,” says Salga’s Maphefo Mokadi.
Salga is the constitutionally mandated organisation responsible for local government oversight. It performs two key strategic roles within the system of government; it works as a protector, robustly enforcing the rights of the local government sector and constructively disrupting areas of existing systems that make it impossible for local government to deliver on its mandate.
It aims to ensure that local government realises and achieves spatial justice and social cohesion through integrated management of space, economies, and people.
“I will put an emphasis on this one because it is one of the sticking issues around Joburg, paying for municipal services. Salga has a campaign that encourages the public to pay for the services that have been rendered by the municipalities, just as you post on your status or uploading profile pictures, why can’t you post #I Pay for Municipal Services to encourage your WhatsApp or Facebook friends to also pay,” adds Mokadi.
Written by Gontse ‘GeE’ Hlophe
09/04/2022