Questions at Oversight Committee Reportback

Questions asked by Trevor Watkins, Chairman of Jeffreys Bay Residents Association, at a public meeting at Humansdorp Country Club on 27 October 2011 to review 2009/2010 draft Annual Report of the Kouga Municipality Oversight committee. 

1. What is the name of the chairman of the Oversight Committee (OC)?
2. Please will the chairman of the OC comment on the contents of the OC report?
3. Looking at the Auditor General (AG) Report, it represents a situation of extreme concern. However this report is history, what can be done in the future? The Audit Committee only met twice, not 4 times as required by law. There are many failures related to the Audit Committee which may have contributed to this disastrous AG report.  Most of the committee does not live in the Kouga. I wish to recommend that the new Audit Committee be appointed speedily, that its members be recruited from suitably qualified Kouga residents, that the Audit Committee be required to fulfil its obligations in terms of its mandate, that it meets frequently and in full, and that its recommendations be acted upon by the Kouga Municipality(KM). Please comment on this recommendation.
4. Are the OC meetings open to the public?
5. Are the minutes of the OC meetings made public?
6. Will the OC minutes be made public in the future, and from when?
7. Does the OC provide oversight of council finances for the current year, does the OC only comment on the KM financial position as at 1 year in the past?
8. Do the public get any other opportunity to inspect and comment on the current KM financial position?
9. The JBRA offered to publish any questions asked of the OC on its blog and website, as well as the responses.
10. If the OC members are not held responsible for their presence on the OC, then they are just simply observers. What is the accountability of the Oversight Committee? If we get another AG report like this at end of 2011, who will be held responsible? Will they be liable to pay any compensation for losses occurring on their watch?
11. How much money is still owed to the KM by current councillors, and by past councillors?