Note to Editors: Please find attached English soundbite by Cllr Alison Oates, Afrikaans soundbite by Cllr Eleanor Quinta and Sesotho soundbite by Cllr Ana Motaung.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will push for full accountability in Maluti-a-Phofung Municipality following the shocking write-off of R4.6 billion in unauthorised expenditure in the last two Council meetings.
This unauthorised spending, while not necessarily stolen or wasted, was either improperly budgeted or incorrectly processed in the municipality’s accounting system, leaving residents uncertain about how public funds are being managed.
Every municipality is supposed to have a functioning Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) that examines these things and recommends remedial actions and consequences.
Until a year ago, the MaP MPAC had not functioned for roughly 7 years. These write-offs refer to unauthorised expenditure dating back to 2012.
The consequences recommended by MPAC could not even be considered as a slap on the wrist.
The municipality considers budgeting as a cosmetic exercise required by law, but not to be taken particularly seriously.
Municipal Departments consider the budget the responsibility of the budget office, whilst the finance department sees itself as simply a bookkeeper, processing what it is given.
The mayor is, of course, ultimately responsible for the budget, but seems to shirk that responsibility. Our poor municipality is flying blind.
We expect MPAC to at least hold the staff and officials responsible for last year’s unauthorised expenditure to account and explain why it occurred. We also expect the mid-year adjustment budget to take these issues into account and budget appropriately.
One of the major problems is that the municipality spends more than it collects and doesn’t pay creditors, such as ESKOM and water providers. To make the figures look halfway respectable, expenses are underbudgeted.
MPAC has yet to process the R617 million unaudited unauthorised expenditure of 2024/25. The DA hopes that MPAC will hold negligent politicians and officials to account more aggressively.