All goods and materials belonging to the Council and held for future consumption shall be retained in the Council's Main Store. With the approval of the Municipal Manager or his/her delegate, certain goods and materials may be held by Cost Centres in a sub-store, provided that all items not required shall be returned to the Main Store.
A Store's record reflecting full particulars of purchases and issues of goods and materials and the balances of stock on hand shall be maintained by the Chief Financial Officer or his/her delegate. Similar stores records shall be maintained by Departmental Managers in respect of sub-stores under their control. The average monthly consumption of each item of stock shall be determined as well as the number of months' stock to be held. The stock card shall show the number of months' consumption that is in stock.
Stock shall not, except where the Chief Financial Officer or his/her delegate is satisfied that special circumstances exist, be carried by or for any Cost Centre in excess of normal requirements. Whenever it appears to the Chief Financial Officer or his/her delegate that a proposed purchase would result in infringement of this clause, he/she shall draw the attention of the Head of the Cost Centre concerned thereto and, if he/she feels it is necessary, shall report the matter to the Municipal Manager.
Requisitions for goods and materials shall be signed by the Head of the Cost Centre or his/her nominees, provided written notification of such nominees and the extent of their authority is given to the Chief Financial Officer or his/her delegate.
Departmental Managers shall advise the Chief Financial Officer or his/her delegate of the persons authorised to sign such requisitions in respect of the following recommended categories:
- Not exceeding R10 000 per requisition;
- Not exceeding R20 000 per requisition; and
- Amounts in excess of R 20 000 will need the specific authority of the Chief Financial Officer and the Head of Section.
- Specimen signatures of all persons authorised to sign requisitions shall be supplied to the Chief Financial Officer or his/her delegate;
Except in the case of emergency requisitions, if the Municipal Manager or his/her delegate has reason to believe that insufficient budgetary provision exists to cover the requisition presented to the Store's Section, he/she shall immediately inform the Head of the Cost Centre concerned, who shall forthwith report the matter to the Council for consideration.
The Municipal Manager or his/her delegate shall be responsible for the ordering, custody and issue of receipt forms, tickets, tokens, vouchers of value, and such other stationary as he/she may deem necessary to control;
The Municipal manager or his/her delegate shall submit tenders for goods, materials or services to the Cost Centre concerned, and the Head of that Cost Centre shall recommend the tender or tenders to be accepted.
If the lowest tender is not recommended the reason/s for not doing so shall accompany the recommendation. If the Municipal Manager or his/her delegate does not agree with the reason/s for not accepting the lowest tender, he/she shall send his/her reason/s for disagreement/s to the head of the Cost Centre concerned and include them in his/her report to the Council. This report should include details of the financial provision and vote number to cover the relevant acquisition.
All surplus goods and materials left over on completion of works or the fulfilment of the purpose for which they were issued or goods recovered in the course of covering out works or on hand for any reason what so ever, shall be returned to and recorded by the Chief Financial Officer or his/her delegate without delay. An Advice Note describing such goods and materials shall be furnished to the Treasury Cost Centre in consultation with the Administration Manager concerned. The Municipal Manager or his/her delegate shall in consultation with the head of the Cost Centre concerned, decide on the value, if any, to be credited to the appropriate vote/s.
Plant and Equipment and other good and materials shall be deemed to be redundant or obsolete as approved by the Council, on the recommendation of the Head of the Cost Centre Technical Services. Similarly, in the case of obsolete or redundant stores items, the Municipal manager or his/her delegate shall report to the Council.
Subject to the Local Authorities Ordinance, the amount and value of any surpluses and shortages in stock revealed in stocktaking, shall be reported by the Municipal manager or his/her delegate to the Council, together with reasons for discrepancies. Where the stock is not under his/her control, the Municipal Manager or his/her delegate may require the responsible Head of the Cost Centre to furnish him/her with a set of reason/s. Any adjustments thereafter must be formally authorised by the Council, save and except that the Municipal Manager or his/her delegate, may authorise adjustments in stocks and losses not involving negligence or identifiable theft, provided favourable audit reports are presented in all cases.
The Chief Financial Officer shall at least once each year cause stock to be taken of all stores and other loose property under his/her control. A report on such stocktaking shall be compiled and certified by the persons appointed by the Chief Financial Officer to take stock and such certified report shall be laid before the Council. The report shall indicate:
- The value of the stores and other loose property found at the stock taking;
- Whether a suitable record has been maintained showing what articles should have been found at stocktaking;
- Any discrepancies between the articles found at stocktaking and the record referred to above; and
- The stores in respect of which no issues have taken place since the previous stocktaking.