Thulisile Mapongwana
The Eastern Cape government says five of the six municipalities whose July equitable share allocations were withheld by National Treasury have already submitted compliance reports, with provincial leaders expressing confidence that the funds could soon be released.
Premier Oscar Mabuyane addressed the media on Tuesday, after chairing a closed-door Local Government Accountability Session attended by mayors, municipal managers, provincial departments, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and Provincial Treasury.
The affected municipalities are Buffalo City Metro, Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, Makana, Sundays River Valley, Inxuba Yethemba and Port St Johns.
Mabuyane said Buffalo City Metro and Port St Johns had made sufficient progress in their submissions to National Treasury, while five of the six municipalities had already engaged with Treasury and submitted compliance plans.
Sundays River Valley is expected to finalise its submission following a council meeting before the end of July.
The Premier warned that prolonged withholding of the equitable share would place further pressure on municipal finances, with possible consequences for service delivery and the payment of municipal employees.
He said municipalities had adopted turnaround plans with clear implementation timelines, while the Office of the Premier would introduce quarterly Local Government Accountability Sessions to strengthen oversight and monitor progress.
Eastern Cape Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Zolile Williams said municipalities were taking steps to address governance failures that contributed to the Treasury decision.
Williams said Makana Municipality, which is already experiencing service delivery challenges, could not remain financially sustainable without its equitable share allocation.
He added that municipalities had committed to submitting all outstanding information required by National Treasury.
He also revealed that one municipality had initiated disciplinary processes against about 100 employees over irregular and unauthorised expenditure, while other municipalities had also taken disciplinary action against officials implicated in financial misconduct and non-compliance with legislation.
Williams further raised concerns about the effectiveness of Municipal Public Accounts Committees (MPACs), saying oversight structures had become politicised in some hung councils, including Nelson Mandela Bay and Sundays River Valley, instead of focusing on resolving governance shortcomings.
Provincial Finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko said the withholding of funds should not be interpreted as a vote of no confidence in municipalities, but rather as part of efforts by National Treasury to strengthen governance and financial management.
Mvoko described it as concerning that both metropolitan municipalities were among those affected, saying metros were expected to have stronger institutional capacity than smaller municipalities.
He said provincial assessments had identified weaknesses in planning, supply chain management and council oversight, with many cases of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure linked to failures in procurement systems.
While some of the audit findings were historical, Mvoko said municipalities needed to move more quickly to resolve longstanding issues.
Meanwhile, SALGA provincial commissioner, Zukisa Gana, said support programmes implemented by the association were already producing positive results, pointing to improved governance and financial management in several municipalities, including Amathole District Municipality.
Gana said SALGA would continue working with the provincial government to strengthen the capacity of Municipal Public Accounts Committees and improve municipal oversight.
He also argued that while governance and spending performance had improved in several Eastern Cape municipalities, these gains had not yet translated into increased funding from National Treasury.
The Premier concluded saying they would continue working with National Treasury to ensure the affected municipalities meet all compliance requirements and secure the release of the withheld equitable share allocations.
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Thulisile Mapongwana
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