COGTA ANNUAL REPORT 2020

As I reflect on the role we play as civil servants and how our approach to our commitment to our citizens will ultimately determine our outcomes; I am reminded of the very old African Proverb “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” With the increased focus on issues and challenges across all spheres of government relating to gender based matters, I am happy to report that the Department’s commitment towards development in these areas as part of our service delivery milestones was demonstrated during our involvement in the Premier Women’s Awards assessment process. The awards are scheduled to take place in 2020 during Women’s month. The Department also forged several critical and strategic partnerships when we actively took part in and supported several programmes and initiatives aimed to intensify the development and support of youth and gender based platforms around the province. The financial health of municipalities remains a major critical focus area, and the inability of municipalities to collect money owed for services rendered is an ongoing challenge that requires a very robust and targeted approach in terms of Municipal Finance Support. In our approach to assist struggling municipalities and to address audit outcome shortcomings, we can report several very successful interventions and support initiatives such as: Municipalities (Randwest City, Lesedi and Emfuleni LMs) were provided with financial support to update and maintain Infrastructure Asset Registers in line with the GRAP 17 requirements. Two of these municipalities: Randwest and Lesedi received positive audit outcomes in the area of Property, Plant, and Equipment as a direct result of our support. Millions of Rands in Revenue owed to municipalities were successfully collected through capacity support by Gauteng CoGTA to two municipalities, Emfuleni and Randwest City LMs. These municipalities were provided with capacity to implement the simplified revenue plans that enabled them to facilitate the collection of much needed revenue. These interventions directly resulted in the collection of a staggering R327 409 500.57 (three hundred and twenty-seven million four hundred nine thousand five hundred and fifty-seven cents) for business debt; R67 517 981.26 (sixty-seven million five hundred seventeen thousand nine hundred and eighty-one and twenty-six cents) for residential debt and R7 545 124.55 (seven million five hundred and forty-five thousand one hundred and twenty-four rand fifty-five cents) from employees.

In addition to the above, through the data cleansing project; a total of 88 655 ID numbers and 25 886 Company Registrations were found and updated on the municipal financial system since the inception of the project. We also saw the prioritising of matters concerning Traditional Affairs and an increased focus on capacity to support the functioning of these structures. The function of this programme is to promote and facilitate viableand sustainable traditional institutions, and to support and enhance the capacity of traditional leadership and local governance institutions. The key performance areas are: Traditional Institutional Administration, Traditional Resource Administration, Rural Development Facilitation, and Traditional Land Administration. The cultural practice of initiation is a rite of passage marking the formal admission of young men/women from childhood to adulthood in a community. It also signifies the transformation of an initiate into a new role. Initiation is also a cultural ritual practiced by our communities and infrastructure had to be protected from the typical risks and dangers. During the past Financial Year, both the winter and summer initiation seasons were unfortunately marred by a number of reports relating to the operation of illegal initiation schools, abductions, and other related criminal incidents. Successful interventions were put in place to curb, prevent, and address these incidents across the province and beyond, through established cross-border partnerships. The Gauteng Province, just like most parts of the country, is vulnerable to various natural and unnatural hazards. The past year was no different, with disastrous events, such as structural and shack fires, severe thunderstorms and heavy rains being experienced in and around Gauteng. These situations demanded that the Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PDMC) is always in a state of readiness to be proactive and geared to handle these incidents. In line with our mandate, our communities and infrastructure must be protected from the typical risks and dangers. A more dedicated and focused action was required to address the underlying disaster risk drivers such as poverty, climate change, rapid urbanisation, and poor land management. The Provincial DisasterManagement Centre continues to be the centre of coordination in the province. The centre together with municipalities, NGOs and other stakeholders strive to ensure that the community

G A U T E N G P R O V I N C I A L G O V E R N M E N T I C O- O P E R A T I V E G O V E R N A N C E A N D T R A D I T I O N A L A F F A I R S ANNUAL REPORT 2019/20 9