National Treasury proposes new law to hold municipal officials personally liable for waste
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced National Treasury's wide-ranging changes to the Municipal Finance Management Act including holding municipal officials and politicians personally liable for wasteful and fruitless expenditure.
The National Treasury in South Africa is considering a new law to hold municipal officials personally accountable for misusing public funds, according to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). The proposed legislation aims to embed fiscal sustainability as a standard in the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) instead of a set numerical rule.
Under the new law, each administration would commit to its own fiscal objectives, which they would then report on during the Budget and explain any significant deviations to Parliament. Additionally, the MTBPS documents indicate that the proposed changes will expand the National Treasury's oversight of municipal financial systems, including the selection of chief financial officers.
Godongwana emphasized that this law would promote sound public financial management and prevent a recurrence of the fiscal decline that occurred from the global financial crisis to early 2020.
Written by urgent.news from IOL's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
