Staff reporter
Bloemfontein – The National Government Intervention Team sent to the cash-strapped Mangaung Metro Municipality in the Free State is reportedly seeking yet another extension despite the Metro Municipality having performed dismally according to the Auditor General (AG) Tsakani Maluleka’s latest report.
The only Free State Metropolitan is facing dire financial challenges with service delivery issues having deepened since the Metro was placed under national care.
The intervention team’s span in office led by acting municipal manager (ACM), Tebogo Motlashuping, who was appointed by Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma is expected to lapse today, 28 February 2023.
The intervention previously received an extension to stay put and continue to work on issues which besieged the Metro over the years.
According to a council member of the Afrikan Alliance of Social Democrats (AASD), Zwelakhe Msabe, there are attempts that seek to extend their appointments for another 3 months. Msabe says the Metro’s council has failed to meet its November 07 2022 resolution targets of appointing a City manager by November 30 2022 and senior managers by now the end of February 2023.
Msabe adds that the said extension plans are done so outside legislation.
In December 2019 the Metro was first placed under administration and an administrator was appointed to help steer the sinking sheep after the international rating agency Moody’s downgraded the cash-strapped Metro.
The Metro is the only metro municipality amongst Metro across the country to adopt the unfunded budget for the year 2018/19 and 2019/20.
In 2022 cabinet approved the intervention in terms of Section 139(7) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996, read together with Section 150 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (Act 56 of 2003), in the Mangaung Metropolitate.
Cabinet spokesperson, Phumla Williams, in a statement said the municipality was experiencing significant financial and service delivery failures for a prolonged period.
“The Free State Provincial Executive placed the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality under a mandatory intervention in terms of Section 139(5) (a) and (c) of the Constitution in December 2019. A mandatory financial recovery plan was subsequently imposed on the municipality in 2020. After failing for more than two years to implement the financial recovery plan during the provincial intervention, the Metro has now been placed under a national intervention in terms of Section 139(7) of the Constitution,” Williams said.
Recently the Free State Auditor General (AG), Odwa Duda, addressed the council of the troubled Metro and laid bare the troubled faced by the metro.
“I performed procedures to determine whether the reported performance information was properly presented and whether the performance was consistent with the approved performance planning documents. I performed further procedures to determine whether the indicators and related targets were measurable and relevant, and assessed the reliability of the reported performance information to determine whether it was valid, accurate and complete,” he said addressing the council.
Some of the key issues Duda addressed with the council included the financial statements and annual reports. He told the council that the financial statements submitted for auditing were not prepared in all material respects in accordance with the requirements of section 122(1) of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) managerial misstatements of non-current assets, current assets, revenue, expenditure and disclosure items identified by the auditors in the submitted financial statements were corrected and the supporting records were provided subsequently, but the uncorrected material misstatements and supporting records that could not be provided resulted in the financial statements receiving a qualified audit opinion.
The council failed to adopt an oversight report containing the council’s comments on the 2020-21 annual report, as required by section 129(1) of the MFMA.
“Procurement and contract management sufficient appropriate audit evidence could not be obtained that the performance of contractors or providers was monitored on a monthly basis as required by section 116(2) of the MFMA. A similar limitation was also reported in the prior year.
Sufficient appropriate audit evidence could not be obtained that contract performance and monitoring measures were in place to ensure effective contract management, as required by section 116(2)(c)(ii) of the MFMA.
A similar limitation was also reported in the prior year. Two contracts above R30 million did not include a condition for mandatory subcontracting to advance designated groups, as required by the 2017 preferential procurement regulation 9(1).
Expenditure management 59. Money owed by the municipality was not always paid within 30 days, as required by section 65(2) (e) of the MFMA. 60. Reasonable steps were not taken to ensure that the municipality implemented and maintained an effective system of expenditure control, including procedures for the approval, authorisation and payment of funds, as required by section 65(2)(a) of the MFMA”
As if things could get worse for the troubled metro which has come under fire from angry community members and the Mangaung Pressure groups including Mangaung Concerned Community (MMC) and Mangaung Service Delivery Forum (MSDF) Duda reported that an adequate management, accounting and information system was not in place which recognised expenditure when it was incurred, and accounted for creditors as required by section 65(2) (b) of the MFMA.
“Reasonable steps were not taken to prevent irregular expenditure amounting to R186 535 056 as disclosed in note 66 to the consolidated financial statements, as required by section 62(1) (d) of the MFMA. The majority of the irregular expenditure was caused by non-compliance with supply chain management regulations and recurring expenditure from contracts that had been reported as irregular in prior financial years.
Reasonable steps were not taken to prevent fruitless and wasteful expenditure amounting to R93 607 043, as disclosed in note 65 to the consolidated financial statements, in contravention of section 62(1) (d) of the MFMA. The majority of the disclosed fruitless and wasteful was caused by payments made on key service delivery projects that were not delivered.
Reasonable steps were not taken to prevent unauthorised expenditure amounting to R1 448 495 011, as disclosed in note 64 to the consolidated financial statements, in contravention of section 62(1) (d) of the MFMA. The majority of the unauthorised expenditure was caused by overspending the approved budget,” Duda added.
In 2022 DA Caucus Deputy Chairperson Dirk Kotze in the Mangaung council lashed at the intervention team. He said this intervention team has proved to be the disaster of the year. “Six months after their appointment service delivery has deteriorated into a crisis. Service delivery in the municipality has ground to a halt. Ongoing water, sewage, refuse and electricity disasters have become a daily norm for residents of Mangaung.
Councillors do not get any assistance from acting Heads of Departments (HODs) to resolve recurring problems that include sewerage management, water leaks, and ongoing refuse collection challenges. None of the HODs has tabled action plans to attend to crumbling service delivery.
Worsening the crisis, HODs do not answer their telephones, nor do they reply to urgent emails,” Kotze added.
Mangaung is currently without a Mayor following the resignation of Mxolisi Siyonzana who will likely be replaced by either Lawrance Mathae or Gregory Nthatisi.
In another twist for the first time in the history of Mangaung all political parties agreed and challenged changes in the intevention team brought by Minister Godongwane.
This is a developing story.
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