South Africa: Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Committee Questions Whether Performance Targets Reflect Municipal Realities

The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) on Friday cautioned against interpreting performance-target achievements as proof that departmental support to struggling municipalities is working. The committee received a briefing from the Office of the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) on the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG), the Department of Traditional Affairs and their entities’ audit outcomes for the 2025/26 financial year. The committee, which has been conducting joint parliamentary oversight engagements across provinces with municipalities that recorded poor audit outcomes in the 2024/2025 municipal financial year, stressed that it would test the reported performance results against persistent dysfunction and service delivery challenges in municipalities. The AGSA reported that the portfolio achieved 89% of its planned targets. The Chairperson of the committee, Dr Zweli Mkhize, however, said a high achievement rate could not be accepted at face value given the realities on the ground.

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