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IOL News
16-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
KZN Legislature vows to enhance oversight on struggling municipalities
Fed-up residents vent their anger against against poor service delivery. The KwaZulu-Natal Legislature Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs(Cogta) said they will do everything possible through the avenues available to perform our oversight role on failing municipalities. Image: Boxer Ngwenya, The Star The KwaZulu-Natal Legislature Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) said they will do everything possible through the avenues available to perform an oversight role on failing municipalities. The KZN municipalities came under the spotlight over management issues and the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). The Auditor General South Africa (AGSA) presented the local government audit outcomes of the MFMA to Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) and the Portfolio Committee on Cogta, on Tuesday. Nomalungelo Mkhize, the AGSA Business Unit Leader in KZN, said they had seen an improvement in some of the municipalities but were concerned about their reliance on consultants which amounted to R220 million, down R20m from the previous financial years. Mkhize said irregular expenditure also decreased from R6.2 billion to R5.7bn. The AGSA gave a brief overview of the material irregularities that have been resolved, where appropriate action is being taken and where there was a process of assessing action. The AGSA also found that key infrastructure projects in the province were delayed because of poor management and some contractors were not qualified or capable of performing the required work leading to substandard work. Marlaine Nair, MPL: KZN Cogta portfolio committee chairperson, said each municipality is required to submit an annual performance report. Nair said that apart from the AGSA audit outcomes, these reports give them a clear picture of what is going on in municipalities. Nair said that Scopa and Cogta are limited in terms of oversight of municipalities. 'I have requested these for the portfolio committee and we will scrutinise them as part of our oversight role. We have to hold Cogta to account for failing municipalities,' Nair said. Kirsch Bezuidenhout, a senior legal advisor for Parliamentary Services, said that Scopa does not exercise any direct oversight over municipalities. Bezuidenhout said exercise of oversight extends to departments like Treasury and to Cogta who then in terms of the municipal pieces of legislation are supposed to exercise oversight over municipalities. He said each of these departments have different programs that are specialists in areas of how municipalities should function optimally. Verna Benjamin, Cogta legal advisor said Cogta exercises direct oversight over local government and the Cogta portfolio committee will coordinate these engagements and hold the provincial executive to account in respect of their oversight of these underperforming municipalities. Benjamin said they need to start with the annual performance plan of the department. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ 'We really need to engage and interrogate those department targets so that we can ensure that the end of the day there is going to be an improved achievement of targets as pertaining to the performance of municipalities," she said. 'The rationale here is to prevent these kinds of audit findings becoming repeated. While we strengthen our oversight over the department it will filter down to better performance in terms of the municipalities. Everybody wants to see a good outcome but we need to do so within our respective competencies. We want to see a turnaround strategy of ailing municipalities,' Benjamin stated.
The Citizen
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
SIU investigating water contracts worth R6 billion
The Special Investigating Unit has had 14 water projects under scrutiny since 2012. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is leading the compliance fight to solve South Africa's water crisis. A newly launched Water Sector Anti-Corruption Forum (WSACF) held its first meeting to celebrate the SIU's work in the water sector. The forum is a part of a national anti-corruption strategy that focuses on protecting public projects vulnerable to corruption. New anti-corruption forum As South Africa's foremost anti-corruption arm, the body is obligated to lead the forum, which falls under a greater G20 anti-corruption umbrella. 'The WSACF is a strategic intervention aimed at developing tailored solutions to address corruption risks in the water sector,' stated SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago. This week, the SIU announced the collective outcomes of almost 13 years of investigations into the country's water projects. The SIU has investigated 13 water projects since 2012 and has one outstanding proclamation that still needs to be executed. 'With eight investigations completed and five still active, the need for a coordinated anti-corruption response in water management has never been clearer,' Kganyago added. SIU successes From the investigations, the SIU has recovered R569 million in undue gains, while R264 million in cash and asset recoveries are still pending Potential losses prevented are listed at R717 million, as the SIU boasts that contracts worth R1.1 billion have been set aside. The value of contracts under the microscope has been massive, with R6.2 billion worth of contracts signed since 2012 flagged for irregular or fraudulent actions. Consequences secured by the SIU include 270 matters being referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), as well as 140 referrals for disciplinary or administrative actions commissioned against business executives and government officials. Affected projects The Umngeni-Uthukela water project is responsible for 61 of those NPA referrals, with the matters currently with the Hawks. The 61 cases are tied to contracts worth R465 million for work ranging from the installation of pipelines to the replacement of filter slabs. A further 38 NPA referrals for fraud and forgery were tied to the Amatola Water Board, where R230 million was allocated for drought relief. Large private sector players linked to SIU investigations include four contracts with construction giants EOH, which has since repaid R160 million. 'EOH accepted liability without prejudice for R178 million. The repayment arrangement was a lump sum of R65 million, and a balance split into 36 monthly installments of R3.5 million,' the SIU stated. NOW READ: At least R900 billion needed to fix SA's water woes
