Holding errant municipal managers accountable is an overwhelming victory for good governance

Nkosikhulule Nyembezi

SOMETIMES you need to pull on the thread. That is how it felt when Auditor General Tsakane Maluleke announced a ‘significant milestone’ to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Auditor General on November 14, stating that she had issued her first certificate of debt against Allan Losaba, the municipal manager of the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality in the North West.

These actions make Losaba the first public official to be held personally liable for financial losses since the Public Audit Act gave the Auditor General strong powers in April 2019. The Auditor General issues the certificate as a ‘last resort’ after all attempts have failed in addressing the material irregularity with the accounting officer and their executive authority.

It all started in the 2018/19 financial year, when Maluleke began auditing a water tender in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality in North West to provide water tanker services as part of its drought relief programme. The contract ran between June 2018 and June 2020. The municipality extended it in May 2020 for three months, and again in August 2020 for yet another three months.

The audit revealed several irregularities causing serious financial losses in the municipality. These included the service provider's inflation of the amounts claimed for kilometres travelled and hours worked when delivering water to communities.

The Auditor General reported the material irregularity to the municipal manager Allan Losaba in 2019, who initially responded and made several commitments to address the issues. However, Losaba failed to provide adequate responses or to take action.

Yet in some ways, the damage was done to citizens who did not get the water paid for by the municipality. The irregularities spanned a long period, from 2018 to 2020, resulting in R4.6m financial losses, which became the basis of Maluleke’s powerful slap of Losaba with her first certificate of debt.

Embedded within Losaba’s misconduct is another threat, one that Maluleke could not overlook in promoting oversight, accountability and governance. Losaba’s failure to recover the material financial loss suffered by the municipality after the remedial action that Maluleke issued against him, despite the ample opportunity provided to him to act.

Maluleke described this as a milestone in strengthening consequence management for stewards of public finances, using expanded powers granted in 2019 to ensure those responsible for mismanagement face real penalties.

This action comes amid widespread concerns over municipal financial irregularities, where large sums of money are lost yearly to poor governance, highlighting the need for stricter accountability to protect taxpayer money and improve service delivery in struggling local governments.

It is an overwhelming victory for accountability and good governance, for the citizens, and for South Africa’s democracy. While across the country, we have seen the municipal council chambers as the venue of choice to push back against the legacy of the national anti-corruption movement, this action sends a clear signal that the voices of those affected have lost none of their power, impact or poignancy.

I remember when I first heard about it: what struck me was the sheer scale of it all if it is rolled out to other municipal managers ahead of the next local government elections. The time is over for government officials to hide behind ‘political pressure’ for material irregularities.

Almost every day since the legislative amendment in April 2019, many citizens have been waiting in anticipation for action against government officials failing to adhere to audit findings. Over the years Maluleke said her office has started implementing its new powers, which include referring ‘material irregularities’ to law enforcement for further investigation, taking binding remedial action against culprits and issuing a certificate of debt against guilty officials to recover public funds.

For those officials citing ‘political pressure’, the time has come to use legislation to resist illegal instructions from politicians who, in law, have nothing to do with disbursing public funds.

In many ways, holding public officials personally liable for financial losses in their departments and municipalities is long overdue. Many citizens who participated in the public hearings have always believed from the start of the legislative amendment process that this was a course the country needed to see through to the end – primarily, of course, for the people who suffer because of the maladministration and misuse of public funds even after audit findings direct specific remedial action.

In cases where there are claims of financial irregularities, even post the operation of the amended legislation, it is rare to find employees who are prepared to speak to auditors or authorities in general.

Whistleblowers and witnesses face a huge risk when dealing with powerful officials in government departments or municipalities. Yet, every time parliament receives an update from the Auditor General, the number of employees exposing maladministration and corruption has risen.

Maluleke’s decision to hold Losaba personally liable for financial losses also became possible because of some employees’ brave decision to speak out. Their actions have always been impressive, honest, and compelling. They did not overstate or exaggerate any of the matters about the water tender.

The decision is also an important exoneration of the national anti-corruption movement. Fighting corruption is risky and expensive, and is famously extremely challenging to deal with.

There is the constant threat of victimisation, litigation, which is unpleasant and time-consuming. There is the toll that it takes on the whistleblowers and witnesses, who may have already suffered abuse, and who can often, understandably, feel they cannot put themselves through the trauma of a gruelling formal investigation process.

And then there is the threat of ruinous financial costs due to the loss of income when influential government officials under investigation for corruption victimise whistleblowers and witnesses. At many points, and doubtless in an attempt to force whistleblowers and witnesses to stand down from cases.

South Africans are lucky to have an independent and efficient Auditor General committed to strengthening our country's democracy.

*Nyembezi is a researcher, policy analyst and human rights activist

Cape Times