1. Hon. MEC, the MF welcomes you to a rather troubled portfolio but the MF supports this R 1,8 billion budget.
2. Hon. MEC, with a more youthful face of municipalities, this department should spearhead the “capacity development programme” by making it mandatory that councillors for 2021 are pre-screened, and must have tertiary qualifications if we are to change the quality of output in municipalities.
3. Hon.MEC, you are right! Our communities cannot rely on water-tankers. Recently, Tongaat, Phoenix, Ward 48 in particular has had recurrent burst pipes and the MF team has worked at all parts of the late evenings with tankers and frustrated community members. Water is a right to life and if the MIG grant is under-utilised then heads must.
4. On fraud, corruption and municipal debt, the MF believes that the KZN treasury must ensure that municipal internal audit units are capacitated to improve audit outcomes. The 33 municipalities with unqualified audit outcomes must be applauded but the balance of 28 need to be supported. Hon.MEC, what steps are being taken to ensure that auditors are protected whilst auditing municplalities? It is important for this Hon.House to know that unqualified audits too, are achieved without fear or favour.
5. The MF is further concerned about settlements, prior to local government elections and it is gravely concerning that the Ethekwini water management unit can never effectively manage natural disasters, the recurrent floods, road damage whilst the land invasions with an dysfunctional and the departments of human settlements has to resort to court action because SAPS seem powerless. The portfolio committee needs to see a management plan.
6. Hon.MEC, in Programme 3: Development planning: Earn spatial planning, land use management and disaster management be reviewed in terms of “shack clearance”, an act KZN failed to clear as Constitutional but now presents dilemmas to social cohesion and our development trajectory.
7. Thank you.

HON.S. Thakur-Rajbansi