Madibeng admits overlooking probe of unauthorised expense

Corruption allegations, ballooning consultation fees and investigations into irregular expenditures.

These are some of the issues impacting service delivery at dysfunctional municipalities in the North West laid bare before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), and the Standing Committee on Appropriations in parliament.

At the centre of scrutiny was Madibeng local municipality, where speaker Ditshego Mbezi admitted that the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC), the body tasked with interrogating unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, has failed to conduct investigations for four years.

“Investigations have never been done. Most of the MPAC members have been there since 2021 but nothing has come out,” said Mbezi.

“I have enrolled them with the National School of Government for training to try and build capacity but I cannot explain why, after all these years, the committee has consistently failed to perform its oversight role.”

Co-operative governance and traditional affairs portfolio committee chairperson, Zweli Mkhize, expressed great frustration.

“You say MPAC is not working but you sound helpless. You have been speaker since 2021 and you admit it has never investigated these matters. Do you think that is fine,” Mkhize asked.

Madibeng’s reliance on consultants has ballooned to R45.12m, the hearing heard.

MPs noted the municipality started at R8m a few years ago, rose to R22m and has now doubled again.

Municipal manager, Quiet Kgatla, admitted that consultants were preparing annual financial statements, managing assets and supporting debt recovery.

However, he argued this was due to persistent capacity gaps.

“Over time, we need to get rid of these consultants but at present they are complementing our teams. Their contracts are capped at three years to allow for skills transfer and we expect our officials to learn and take over those functions. We cannot rely on them indefinitely,” he said.

Matlosana local municipality revealed staggering financial strain, revealing that it is sitting on almost R10bn in outstanding debtors, including R406m owed by government departments, R864m by businesses, and R9bn by households.

Despite a 76% collection rate, Klerksdorp-based Matlosana is crippled by two entities, Eskom and the Midvaal Water Board.

Municipal manager, Lesego Seametso said Eskom debt stood at R2.7bn by June, while Midvaal arrears climbed to R2.45bn.

“This is due to our inability to rigorously collect revenue. Despite these staggering amounts, our revenue collection has not kept pace and that is why we are sitting with ballooning arrears,” Seametso said.