Municipality where man connected water for village wasted R47.8m

A Mpumalanga municipality where a man spent his own money to bring water to his village has wasted R47.8m in the last five years, according to the Auditor-General (AG).

Mlungisi Maseko is being celebrated as a local hero after he donated R1,3m of his Road Accident Fund payout to buy equipment to connect about 105 households that have been suffering for 15 years to a water stream.

Meanwhile, the AG’s reports for Chief Albert Luthuli municipality for successive financial years from 2018/2019 to 2022/2023 show that the municipality recorded a total of R47.8m in fruitless and wasteful expenditure while its irregular expenditure bill for the same period totalled R1,3bn.

In the 2018/2019 financial year, the municipality recorded R23.3m in fruitless and wasteful expenditure. In 2019/2020, it stood at R24.5 million. The amount was R122,284 in 2020/2021, R16,634 in 2021/2022 and in the 2022/2023 financial year it was R1,925.

In the last two financial years, audit outcomes for the municipality regressed from unqualified to qualified opinions, with the AG flagging poor quality of financial statements submitted for auditing.

The municipality’s daily and monthly controls were concerning for the AG so she called for intervention to assist with year-end reporting and proper record keeping.

The AG has found that tenders were awarded to other state officials — in contravention of the law — and that there was inadequate contract management.

The municipality also recorded R11m in water losses, which is 39% of all water flowing in its pipes. The Treasury norm is 15% to 30%.

In its 2022/23 report, the municipality’s own public accounts committee flagged what it said was a dramatic deterioration in service delivery, particularly water quality and distribution.

Speaking to Sowetan this week, municipal spokesperson Thapelo Phetla said they would be done with the upgrading of the water treatment works which will cover the whole community of Mooiplaas, not only the new stands.

The Municipal Public Accounts Committee noted challenges in the cost of water treatment operations, the ever-increasing Eskom bills for the Water Treatment Plants at Carolina, Elukwatini and Empluluzi, and the raw water source at the Methula and Mooiplaas Water Scheme drying up in winter.

“Another challenge is the financing of the operation and maintenance of water infrastructure. Furthermore, the municipality’s inability to collect sufficient revenue and enforce the Credit Control Policy, particularly in the Eskom-supply areas, results in financial constraints, which adversely affect its ability to adequately maintain the water infrastructure.”

Maseko on Tuesday told Sowetan that he had used a portion of his RAF payout to ensure the community had water. He said before the crash, he was employed as a scaffolder.

“After leaving my job, I dug my own borehole to water my two hectares of farming land. Seeing the community I grew up in suffering and old people carrying water buckets for 5km, I held a meeting with them and told them about the plan to draw water from the stream to their households,” Maseko said.

“But they said they didn't have money. I then decided to hire some unemployed young men to install the water infrastructure I had paid for from my pocket... as we speak, 105 households now have water and that brings so much joy to my heart.”

He said the stream where they get water from is at the top of a mountain while their houses are at the bottom, which makes it easier to channel water to the community.

SowetanLIVE