For several years it has been clear that the City of Tshwane’s administration is in a precarious state and that this affects the delivery of basic services to its communities.
But nothing paints a more deeply disturbing picture of the extent of the collapse of the nation’s executive or administrative capital than the latest report from the auditor-general.
The 2021/22 report gave the city an adverse opinion: The A-G was unable to verify the credibility of the information presented in its annual statement.
The report showed how the city cannot manage its assets, cannot reconcile its debt against services provided, lacks sufficient internal controls to track irregular expenditure (an environment conducive for corruption), and lacks proper control over the management of staff salaries and wages.
The report also showed the city is losing the battle against water and electricity losses, which run into billions of rand, either through poorly managed municipal infrastructure, or illegal connections and theft.
Equally important, it shows a culture where those who do wrong are not held accountable and previous recommendations of the A-G for consequence management appear to have been ignored.
Previously flagged problems, such as unfair tender bidding and over-payment on fuel purchase, were not addressed as required.
“Appropriate action was not taken against officials of the municipality, where investigations proved financial misconduct, as required," the report reads.
"Allegations of financial misconduct laid against officials of the municipality were not investigated and allegations of fraud and extortion which exceeded R100,000 were not reported to police as required by law,” the A-G found.
Mayor Randall Williams says they have begun working with the National Treasury and the A-G to address some of the governance problems in the metro.
While this is encouraging, the effectiveness of this intervention will be seen and felt when those responsible for this mess are held accountable, legally or otherwise.
Fixing systemic failures in the administration must go hand-in-hand with exposing and recouping money lost to maladministration and corruption.
This is the only way the city's coalition government can restore public trust.
The collapse of governance as detailed by the A-G is not victimless.
It has had a direct impact on communities, institutions and people, their well-being and development.
SOWETAN | Tshwane must assert good governance
Financial information impossible to verify
Image: Antonio Muchave
For several years it has been clear that the City of Tshwane’s administration is in a precarious state and that this affects the delivery of basic services to its communities.
But nothing paints a more deeply disturbing picture of the extent of the collapse of the nation’s executive or administrative capital than the latest report from the auditor-general.
The 2021/22 report gave the city an adverse opinion: The A-G was unable to verify the credibility of the information presented in its annual statement.
The report showed how the city cannot manage its assets, cannot reconcile its debt against services provided, lacks sufficient internal controls to track irregular expenditure (an environment conducive for corruption), and lacks proper control over the management of staff salaries and wages.
The report also showed the city is losing the battle against water and electricity losses, which run into billions of rand, either through poorly managed municipal infrastructure, or illegal connections and theft.
Equally important, it shows a culture where those who do wrong are not held accountable and previous recommendations of the A-G for consequence management appear to have been ignored.
Previously flagged problems, such as unfair tender bidding and over-payment on fuel purchase, were not addressed as required.
“Appropriate action was not taken against officials of the municipality, where investigations proved financial misconduct, as required," the report reads.
"Allegations of financial misconduct laid against officials of the municipality were not investigated and allegations of fraud and extortion which exceeded R100,000 were not reported to police as required by law,” the A-G found.
Mayor Randall Williams says they have begun working with the National Treasury and the A-G to address some of the governance problems in the metro.
While this is encouraging, the effectiveness of this intervention will be seen and felt when those responsible for this mess are held accountable, legally or otherwise.
Fixing systemic failures in the administration must go hand-in-hand with exposing and recouping money lost to maladministration and corruption.
This is the only way the city's coalition government can restore public trust.
The collapse of governance as detailed by the A-G is not victimless.
It has had a direct impact on communities, institutions and people, their well-being and development.
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