Media Statement
07 February 2023
Our best is not good enough, MEC Rosho challenges Provincial Treasury Senior and Middle Managers
While the Provincial Treasury continues to be a shining example in terms of its performance relating to good governance and achieving consecutive audit outcomes, the MEC for Finance challenged senior and middle managers at the department’s strategic planning session to ensure that the department’s impact on service delivery becomes lived experience of the over four million people of North West.
The managers converged to take stock and reflect on the journey travelled since the beginning of the sixth administration’s term.
MEC Rosho stated that although she is generally satisfied with the progress registered with support provided to departments and public entities that is steadily translating into improved performance, financial management challenges in local government continue to be a point of concern. Most of provincial municipalities are on the brink of collapse despite continued support by the Provincial Treasury.
“We must always remember that we remain a bedrock of service delivery. We may celebrate Clean Audit Outcome as department however, from the external service point of view we still need to apply our minds on what still need to be done. We must do an honest introspection on the support we provide especially in local government.
We must now replicate this excellent work to our municipalities. It is about time we radically reflect and take stock on our s unicipal support programmet. We must diagnose the instruments that we use to turn around municipalities as to whether there is return on investment. I am very deliberate on Local Government space because our municipalities continue to deteriorate while Provincial Treasury continue to give support”, said Rosho.
MEC Rosho expressed her confidence on local government experts who act on behalf of the Executive Council as Provincial Exco Representatives (PERs) to turn municipalities that are in financial distress around.
“I am looking forward to the PERs roles in the development of financial recovery plans and the implementation thereof. We must however critically assess the value chain of the external support function to municipalities that is to work with the newly appointed PERs,” she said.
She acknowledged progress that has been registered internally in ensuring that there are good systems and stringent internal controls in place. She indicated that there are still gray areas externally where the department need to up the game in order to resonate with good governance and ethical leadership.
She concluded that her department and provincial government can only be celebrated once the financial health and capacity of municipalities to render services are improved.
END
Issued by North West Provincial Treasury
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