The DA in Thaba Chweu will write to the Executive Mayor of Ehlanzeni District Municipality, Terrance Shabangu, requesting him to step in and provide much needed technical expertise and capacity building to Thaba Chweu Local Municipality.
This comes after the AG noted various internal control deficiencies that affected the audit outcome. At a recent Special Council Meeting, it was revealed that the AG gave the municipality a qualified audit opinion with findings for the 2024/2025 financial year.
During this meeting, a presentation was made by the Provincial Treasury and the AG, wherein the AG expressed growing concern over the municipality’s financial viability and its ability to continue operating. This is due to the R1.6 billion Eskom debt which rendered the municipality’s budget unfunded.
At this meeting, it was also noted that reasonable steps were not taken to prevent irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. In this regard fruitless and wasteful expenditure amounts to R74,2 million, while irregular expenditure is currently at R73,2 million.
The AG report also revealed that several projects were supposed to be completed by June 2024, but they are still incomplete. This includes important infrastructure projects such as road maintenance in Matibidi and Lydenburg, water reticulation projects in Mashishing (ext 8) and the electrification of 220 households in Manjenje (Mashishing).
What is more concerning is that the budget for these projects has already been spent. Being a major setback to service delivery in Thaba Chweu, situations like these deny our communities the opportunity of having valuable infrastructure.
The ANC administration is running amok in this municipality. This clearly demonstrates that they are out of their depth.
The DA will not tolerate incompetence, we will keep fighting for the residents.