Hlaudi’s R7,4 billion waste shock! | Daily Sun

Hlaudi Motsoeneng says urgent management reform is needed at the Maluti-a-Phofung Municipality. Photo by Joseph Mokoaledi

THE leader of the African Content Movement (ACM) is shocked.

Former SABC Chief Operating Officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng said he’s in disbelief at the recent Auditor-General’s report regarding the struggling Maluti-a-Phofung Municipality in the Free State.

This comes after Auditor-General, Tsakani Maluleke, pointed out in her report that the Maluti-a-Phofung Municipality is leading in deteriorating municipalities in the province, with maladministration becoming a norm.

Maluleke found that during the period 2022/23, the municipality had R3,9 billion unauthorised, R2,4 billion in fruitless and wasteful expenditure, and a shocking R1,1 billion in irregular expenditure.

Hlaudi said for the past five years, the municipality’s audits remained outstanding.

He mandated his deployee to be proactive and not wait for issues to be discovered by other state organs.

“The key priority is to clean up the municipality. All employees must work and dedicate themselves to serving the people with loyalty and passion. We’re concerned about administrative instability. We’re calling for an urgent appointment of a municipal manager to ensure effective delivery of services to the people without further delay,” said Hlaudi.

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He said the municipal manager should be someone from the municipality or the district, a person who is qualified, competent, firm, objective, and not easily swayed.

“We’re concerned by allegations that some municipal workers own businesses and are focused on serving those business interests at the expense of delivering services to the people. We demand, as a matter of urgency, provision of reliable electricity, drinkable water, and safe roads to be prioritised,” Hlaudi told Daily Sun.

He gave his councillor and newly elected chairman of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC), Mandla Tshabalala-Holey, the task to work with law enforcement agencies to recover stolen billions of rands from the municipalilty coffers.

“I’ve instructed my party deployees in the municipality to work 24 hours to root out corruption. I demand consequential management of the affairs of the municipality, and Holey should ensure that MPAC meetings are accessible to the public and produce a programme to communicate its activities,” said Hlaudi.