Auditor General hands Govan Mbeki Local Municipality qualified report consecutively

Issued by James Masango – DA Councilor Govan Mbeki Local Municipality
03 Feb 2023 in Press Releases

The ANC-led municipality has troublingly once again received a qualified report from the Auditor General (A-G). 

This speaks volumes about the ANC’s governing incapabilities. Their negligence towards the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) has put the municipality into disarray.  

The AG report shows financial irregularities, as previously highlighted, that can be attributed to the failure to collect revenue. 

The municipality has failed to derive a plan on how households, not connected to the Eskom gird, will be connected to meters for adequate billing. Uncollected revenue from these households without meters could go a long way in helping the municipality service its debt with major creditors like Rand Water and Eskom. 

For years, the DA has been calling on the municipality to implement its debt and credit control policy. The municipality’s revenue is at an average of 60%, the loss of water is at 30%, and even more concerning, the electricity is at 70%. 

Private businesses and government entities at a provincial and national level are among the offenders not paying for services rendered. The municipality’s failure to act on this is unacceptable.  As a result, the AG was unable to obtain sufficient audit evidence for other revenues collected by the municipality.  

The financial statements submitted for this audit were not prepared in accordance with the Municipal Finance Management Act. 

The ANC administration under Govan Mbeki has shown blatant disregard for the local government legislature to the extent that there were misstatements of assets, revenue, expenditure, and disclosure items.  

It is even more concerning to note that some supporting documents could not be provided, resulting in the A-G handing the municipality a qualified report.  

 The DA would like to express its despair at the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC), failing to successfully execute its mandate. Maladministration has flourished in this municipality, and the deceitful beneficiaries of cadre deployment have done nothing to counter this.  

The DA has already written to COGTA MEC, Mandla Msibi, requesting that he assess the financial recovery plan that the provincial government adopted in 2018. Govan Mbeki was listed among the municipalities the department would look into. The DA will monitor the implementation of the financial recovery plan and continue to keep the municipality and MEC to account.