It’s that time of the year when the Auditor-General starts to probe whether municipalities and their entities such as the MBDA have done what they committed to do in the previous financial year, whether this was done lawfully and then determine whether to issue an audit opinion which describes the institution’s Annual Financial Statements as a fair reflection of the state of that institution. Such opinion can be what is often referred to as a clean audit on the one hand, or on the other hand, to issue a disclaimer which is an indication of an institution in disarray. The next article will explain the different audit outcomes, but it is very difficult to achieve a clean audit despite following the rules, whereas a disclaimer means that something serious is amiss.

The MBDA has been made aware of the unfortunate and regrettable incident that happened at the Donkin on Monday.
Although the MBDA provides limited security services for the property on the Donkin, it is disappointing that a contract security service guard allegedly took no proactive steps to intervene.

“Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

The Mandela Bay Development Agency is inviting all eligible NPO’s or Non-Government Organisations to tender proposals to manage and operate the Helenvale Youth Centre with a satellite office operating from the Helenvale Resource Centre. The Youth Centre is located at Corner of Virgo Road and Aries Street, Helenvale, Gqeberha.

Citizen engagement with municipalities is informed by the needs of the race, class, and gender in relation to the services being offered. It is more likely that a person from the suburbs with a plan in hand is seeking approval for an extension to a house in the suburbs, whereas the person from the informal settlement with plan in hand is at the same office wondering when her RDP house is to going to be delivered. Each day, all citizens claim the rights to which they are entitled. In the public service, that all comes together in municipalities. In a single day a mid-level municipal official could be dealing with land invasions, rolling out public housing projects, assessing the capacities of large-scale infrastructure with respect to urban expansion, deal with domestic overcrowding, domestic violence, illegal land uses, warring neighbours and approving building plans.