Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA)

Section 21 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (Act 56 of 2003) regulates the budget preparation process and requires the mayor of a municipality to co-ordinate the processes of preparing the annual budget and reviewing the municipality’s integrated development plan and budget related policies to ensure that the tabled budget and any revisions of the integrated development plan and budget-related policies are mutually consistent and credible.

The mayor must at least 10 months before the start of the budget year, table in the municipal council a time schedule outlining key deadlines for:

i. the preparation, tabling and approval of the annual budget;

ii. the annual review of the integrated development plan in terms of Section 34 of the Municipal Systems Act;

iii. budget-related policies; and

iv. any consultative processes forming part of the processes referred to in subparagraphs (i), (ii) and (iii)”.

Section 53(1)(b) provides that the mayor of a municipality must co-ordinate the annual revision of the integrated development plan in terms of Section 34 of the Municipal Systems Act and the preparation of the annual budget and determine how the integrated development plan is to be considered or revised for the purposes of the budget.