Parliament, Tuesday, August 12, 2025 – The portfolio committee for Cooperative Board and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), together with the Permanent Committee for Public Accounts and the Permanent Committee for the Auditor General, has closed its supervision with the last four municipalities in the Free State.
Today’s meeting with the Setsoto, Dihlabeng, Nketoana and Phumelela Local Municipalities marks the end of an intensive supervisory process in which all 23 municipalities are involved in the free state. The free state was the first stage of a planned nationwide joint parliamentary supervisory initiative to tackle poor audit results in municipalities. The joint supervision revealed deep-rooted governance mislukings, including billions owed to creditors, non-paying pension contributions deducted from the salaries of employees, excessive and often unauthorized overtime payments, irregular tenders and more than R7 billion, unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware, unaware, and unaware, and unaware, and unaware-in-legged Expenditure in some municipalities. In many areas, the services have completely collapsed.
The chairman of the committee, Dr. Zweli Mkhize, described the observations of the delegation as “symptomatic for a culture of impunity”. He warned that unless urgent action is taken, some municipalities can remain financially untenable until a decade. “Grant -dependent municipalities that are unable to generate their own income must receive targeted support, but this must go hand in hand with strict accountability and consequences for misconduct,” he said.
According to Dr. MKHIZE will be held responsible for the implementation of interventions to tackle adverse audit results, improve capacity and to ensure that municipal councils and mayors take full responsibility for the failure of administration. The Commission has given the province three months to report on the progress, with immediate updates that are expected on urgent matters, including cases in which municipal officials misled the committee during the assignments.
In response to the observations and concerns of the delegation, the provincial government of the free state has committed itself to strengthening the support of financial management to municipalities. This includes the appointment of financial experts to help with complex accounting matters and enforce deadlines to submit quality financial statements of quality. Internal audit processes will be revised and municipal managers must attend executive meetings to guarantee consistent supervision, the delegation was insured.
In his answer, a representative of the office of the Auditor General of South Africa, Mr Odwa Duda, repeated the necessity of consequence management, tackling and correcting the prevalence of non-finance budgets and improved control of financial and performance reports by mayors. Mr Duda also emphasized the role of municipal public accounting committees and internal audit structures in detecting irregular expenses and supporting improvements in financial administration. Without these measures, he said, the province threatens to repeat bad audit results.
Dr. MKHIZE emphasized that the repair of functionality in free state municipalities requires both capacity buildings and strict enforcement of accountability. “We cannot allow late comments, financial statements of poor quality and negligence on governance.
The committees will continue their joint municipal supervisory program in the northwest and Gauteng from 1 to 7 September.
Published by the parliamentary communication services on behalf of the chairman of the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr Zweli Mkhize.
For media questions or interviews with the chairman, contact: please contact:
Name: Alicestine October (MS)
Cell: 083 665 4345
E-mail: aoctober@parliament.gov.za
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