Maluti-a-Phofung in the Free State has been identified as one of the dismally performing municipalities by auditor-general (AG) Tsakane Maluleke in the last financial year.
Maluti-a-Phofung is known more for dysfunctionality, unaccountability and mismanagement stretching over a number of years.
The ANC control of the council since 1994 came to an end after the last local government elections in November. A group of former ANC councillors are now part of the coalition government running the municipality.
The dissident councillors who formed MAP 16, a civic organisation, that spoke out against corruption and maladministration in the municipality, have now gained power.
Their performances in finances will therefore be correctly revealed in the AG's report next year.
According to the latest AG’s report, the municipality was issued with a disclaimer audit opinion – this is the worst a municipality can get, as it means the municipality could not provide auditors with evidence for most transactions in its financial statements.
Maluleke also referred the municipality to the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) for further investigation.
“We performed additional audit work on the infrastructure and payment profiles of Masilonyana, Maluti-a-Phofung and Tokologo. We determined that only Masilonyana had a plan and budget for the routine maintenance of infrastructure assets, while Maluti-a-Phofung and Tokologo had no plan to ensure that their infrastructure assets were properly maintained.
“The municipalities were not fulfilling their service delivery mandates. For example, all seven wastewater treatment works at Maluti-a-Phofung collapsed and the plants were not operational due to a combination of poor management, theft and vandalism. This resulted in raw sewage being discharged into the environment.
“We issued notifications of material irregularities for four of these plants due to the likely substantial harm to the public. In addition, our data analytics revealed that these municipalities were exposed to the risk of not being able to detect fraudulent activities because they did not use unique identifiers for transactions in the bank statements and the general ledger,” said Maluleke.
MAP 16 spokesperson Mutlanyane Sekete said the AG’s findings confirmed their long-standing view that the municipality was “rife with corruption, maladministration and malfeasance before they took over after the November polls”.
“The report confirms what we have been saying all along. There was no consequence management under the [provincial] administration of Ace Magashule. No one was accountable. Provincial government was reluctant to take any action.
“People were doing as they wish. This is what we are trying to reverse. What the AG has picked up is what we inherited. For everyone who has been implicated, I believe the law should take its course.
“We inherited the collapsed, corrupt municipality from the hands of the ANC. We are trying to restore good governance and have consequence management,’’ said Sekete.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.