Pretoria - The City of Tshwane’s lack of financial management, especially in the wake of the auditor-general’s (AG) adverse opinion incurred by the metro for the 2021/22 financial year, has been highlighted as a cause for concern for the parliamentary select committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs, water and sanitation and human settlements.
Committee members expressed the view during last week’s oversight visit to Tshwane and other municipalities in Gauteng.
The lack of financial management in the City “requires urgent action to resolve”, the committee said.
During the visit, the City outlined its plans to improve its dire financial position and the committee emphasised the necessity of effective implementation.
However, the committee said the risk to achieving this was the lack of capacity and skills, especially in strategic roles within the City.
Committee chairperson China Dodovu said: “The main challenge is the lack of appetite to implement effective consequence management, which then encourages a self-seeking culture of corruption and undermining of service delivery.”
The committee expressed worries that the municipality was struggling to fill critical vacant positions, including the chief financial officer (CFO) – essential in implementing its plans.
The city’s (former) CFO Urma Banda was fired by then city manager Johann Mettler on December 2, 2022 before the expiry of his contract on December 31 for misrepresenting the financial statement of the municipality to the AG.
The AG report painted a disastrous picture of the City’s financial management with irregular expenditure of R10.4 billion and fruitless and wasteful expenditure understated by R1bn.
Unauthorised expenditure was understated by R600 million.
The committee said was also concerned with the lack of tangible progress in implementing the audit action plan.
Dodovu said: “The committee highlighted that the cash flow challenges faced by the City can be resolved if residents pay for services. Effective communications anchored on effective ward committees is a necessary tool towards attainment of this goal.”
He said the City spent 2% of its budget on maintenance against the national norm of 8%.
“This is concerning in the context of the huge water and electricity losses, which could be remedied by maintaining bulk infrastructure that will ensure that residents receive reliable water, roads and electricity.”
Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink has repeatedly said he was devoted to addressing the AG’s adverse audit opinion for the 2021/22 financial year.
Pretoria News