Johannesburg - The select committee on co-operative governance and traditional Affairs, water and sanitation, and human settlements is concerned about the regression in performance and audit of the City of Tshwane, City of Joburg and Emfuleni Local Municipality.
This comes after the committee received a briefing from the Office of the Auditor General (AGSA) on municipal audit outcomes.
Chairperson of the committee, Thamsanqa China Dodovu, said that municipalities play a central role in delivering services to the people, and the committee finds it unacceptable that the undesirable accountability ecosystem and other systematic challenges have had a direct impact on the ability of the municipality to deliver quality services.
"These presentations have empowered the committee to ensure effective oversight of the municipalities during the envisioned oversight visit to the municipalities in two weeks," said Dodovu.
The parliamentary committee said that the City of Tshwane has regressed in relation to financial management systems and internal controls, and it was concerned that there has been no improvement in the history of poor quality financial statements, a problem that worsens and prolongs the challenges within the municipality.
"Compounding the challenges faced by the municipality is the information that the general financial management disciplines and effective systems of internal controls have not been implemented within the City of Tshwane. In addition, recommendations to address weaknesses identified by external and internal audit and the audit committee have not been effected through action plans," said a committee statement.
The committee also pointed out the political instability in Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and the impact it has on the governance of the municipality, but it has highlighted a concern that there has been instability in the office of the accounting officer since the 2018/19 financial year.
While in the City of Joburg, non-compliance with policies and procedures is breeding ground for corruption and malfeasance, which is compounded by the lack of consequence management.
"The committee will, when it visits the municipality, demand answers on challenges faced by the municipality," Dodovu emphasised.
The committee was also worried about irregular expenditure increasing by 15%, sitting at R6.7 billion, and fruitless and wasteful expenditure increasing by 23%.
"The committee will, during its visit, ascertain what the municipality is doing to improve preventative controls and also implement consequence management," it said.
The committee also had serious concerns with Emfuleni Local Municipality only achieving 46% of its set targets, highlighting the low levels of service delivery.
"The committee will during its visit to the municipality assess what the municipality is doing to address irregular expenditure amounting to R232 305 800 in the current year of assessment, fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R827 881 210, and unauthorised expenditure, which also increased in the current year by R2 708 864 475," said the committee.
The committee will, in due course communicate its oversight visit programme to the municipalities.
The Star