Gauteng municipalities under spotlight

Five Gauteng municipalities including the now-defunct Kungwini Municipality are being investigated for their role in the irregular allocation of municipal tenders and contracts worth R200-million. Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane made the disclosure in the provincial legislature during a response to questions from provincial DA leader Janet Sample, who was not in the house. Sample’s questions came a few days after the May 18 local government elections. In her reply, Mokonyane singled out the two big metros, the City of Tshwane, Ekurhuleni as well as West Rand District Municipality, Kungwini and Emfuleni Local Municipality. The City of Tshwane, had recorded an irregular allocation of tenders worth R165.5-million - the highest such expenditure among the five.

Kungwini Local Municipality - which has since become part of the Greater Tshwane Municipality after May 18 elections - had irregularly awarded tenders worth R25.9-million. The West Rand District Municipality’s tender awards were R3.1-million. Ekurhuleni Metro Council had given out R2.2-million of tenders and Emfuleni Municipality’s R21 250 was the lowest award. Mokonyane said Kungwini municipality’s bid evaluation committee had deviated from the initial specification requirements but had not reported on time to the provincial treasury and the Auditor-General (A-G) its reasons for doing so. She said the irregularity had also been disclosed in the municipality’s annual financial report. But, Mokonyane applauded all Gauteng municipalities for adhering to laws governing the use of municipal public funds. However, she added that the municipalities had not adhered to “certain prescripts of the Municipal Finance Management Act”.

She singled out 14 municipalities including the DA-run Midvaal Local Municipality for not adhering with these requirements. Among the municipalities Mokonyane mentioned were Merafong Municipality, which forms part of Carletonville and Khutsong, which had irregular expenditure of R2.5-million. Emfuleni Local Municipality’s irregular expenditure was R105 573.74, but the money had been reduced to half after SARS had agreed to a waiver on interests and penalties. Westonaria Local Municipality’s irregular spending was R4.4-million while the City of Tshwane’s was at R2.2-million. The Ekurhuleni metro showed R1-million in irregular expenditure, while the money recorded for Mogale City Municipality was R91 000 and that for West Rand District Municipality was R3-million.

Mokonyane said Sedibeng District Council had incurred irregular expenditure of R322 000 they had spent on hired vehicles. She said the problem had been compounded by the slow purchase of fleet vehicles. The policy gap and fleet problems had since been resolved. Mokonyane said Sedibeng had also reported overexpenditure on salaries to meet the minimum wages agreement set by the South African Local Government Association. She said the government’s Department of Local Government and Housing was on track to give to give support to these municipalities and improve their financial management. Mokonyane was unable to respond on the state of the City of Joburg because the A-G’s report has still not been finalised.