Press Statement by James Masango: DA Spokesperson on CoGHSTA
- Mpumalanga municipalities have been in a financial spiral since 2016.
- Attempts to restore fiscal discipline by the provincial government have proved to be futile.
- DA calls on CoGHSTA to promote financial viability and sound fiscal management.
7 July 2026
Release: Immediate
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Mpumalanga cautiously welcomes National Treasury’s decision to temporarily withhold the equitable share allocation to three municipalities in the province.
In a bid to promote fiscal discipline, address financial mismanagement and ensure accountability among municipal officials and office bearers, Treasury undertook to temporarily suspend the equitable share grant allocation to sixty-nine municipalities across the country for July.
In Mpumalanga, Victor Khanye, Emakhazeni and Nkomazi will be affected by this decision and this stance has been coming for a long time as our poor performing municipalities were also warned of this move by the Provincial Treasury.
It must be noted that Mpumalanga municipalities have been plagued by all aspects of financial mismanagement, including the passing of unfunded budgets, non-payment of creditors timeously, and a failure to prevent unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
The above issues have been consecutively flagged by the Auditor General, who further reiterated the failure of the provincial government to hold municipal officials to account.
During the 2024/25 local government audit outcomes, the AG noted that eight municipalities in the province were in severe financial distress. This includes:
Lekwa – in this position for 10 years
EMalahleni – 9 years
Govan Mbeki – 6 years
Msukaligwa – 3 years
Thaba Chweu – 2 years
Victor Khanye – 2 years
The City of Mbombela – 1 year
Nkomazi – 1 year
Given that it cannot be business as usual, we welcome the decision of the National Treasury to temporarily withhold July’s equitable share to the three municipalities in the province.
Noting that this decision will have disastrous consequences on municipalities like Nkomazi who rely on the equitable share to function, we call on the MEC of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA), Speedy Mashilo to assess the situation that several of our municipalities in and devise strong solutions to promote both financial viability and sound fiscal management.