The African National Congress in the Josiah Gumede Region has raised serious concerns over corruption and financial mismanagement in the uThukela District Municipality. IN Picture: UThukela District Municipality mayor Inkosi Ntandoyenkosi Shabalala, who learned on Juanuary 23, 2026 that his municipality no longer has control over its bank accounts.
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The African National Congress (ANC) in the Josiah Gumede Region (ANC-JGR) has expressed its displeasure over ongoing corruption allegations in the uThukela District Municipality, which is under the leadership of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
Recent events, according to the ANC, have highlighted a pattern of mismanagement and illicit financial practices, prompting urgent calls for accountability from the municipality’s leadership.
The latest accusation to be levelled at the municipality was the entity’s alleged laundering of funds through the uThukela Economic Development Agency (UEDA) to pay salaries for the month of February following significant delays.
The delayed payments stemmed from the entity’s bank account being frozen due to a court order brought against the municipality after unpaid debt to a service provider amounting to millions of rand.
As a consequence, numerous workers reportedly faced severe financial distress, with some forced into debt and unable to meet essential obligations such as medical aid and pension contributions.
Last week, the municipality launched an urgent application in the Pietermaritzburg High Court seeking to suspend a writ of execution that led to its bank account being frozen.
The legal action was instituted by RASP Consultants CC and its project manager, Roshan Sewpersad. The municipality appealed to the court to suspend the legal action and prevent what it described as a potential collapse of essential services.
Sewpersad claims that the municipality owed him millions of rand and was unfairly prioritising other service providers.
According to court papers, uThukela City Manager Langelihle Jili stated that RASP made unsolicited bids to the municipality for water plant maintenance services in 2021 and 2022.
Jili explained that RASP experienced challenges receiving payment while the municipality was under administration.
Following a court application by the company in April 2025, a settlement agreement was reached. The municipality acknowledged a debt of over R100 million but informed Sewpersad that it could not settle the amount in a lump sum.
An agreement was reached for the debt to be paid in 24 instalments until mid-2033, which was formalised in writing, according to the municipality. The first instalment of R3 million was due on December 15, 2025, but was not paid.
Jili stated that the municipality had anticipated receiving certain grants, including an equitable share allocation from National Treasury, before the due date.
“This was the anticipated source of the instalment due to be paid to RASP,” Jili said.
Sipho Ndaba, spokesperson for ANC-JGR, expressed concern about the municipality’s operations, saying the mechanisms used to facilitate salary payments raised serious questions about legality and ethics.
He added that the approach also created risks that could further destabilise an already struggling municipality.
“The ongoing collapse of municipal systems cannot be ignored by those in power. The failure to adhere to proper protocol only deepens the crisis for residents and workers alike,” Ndaba said.
While the ANC acknowledged that workers were eventually paid, the party criticised the method used to process the salaries.
According to reports from the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Treasury, the transfer of funds through UEDA’s bank account allegedly lacked council approval and contravened regulatory frameworks including the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and the Municipal Systems Act (MSA).
The controversy was further compounded by claims involving uThukela District Municipality mayor Ntandoyenkosi Shabalala, who has been accused of misleading the public about a supposed surplus budget of R1.1 billion and making promises regarding critical infrastructure funding in the coming years.
Records show that previous equitable share allocations from National Treasury were delayed, while the municipality reportedly remains uncertain about future funding prospects amid ongoing financial challenges.
Ndaba said the ANC stood firmly with affected workers and communities, criticising the IFP’s leadership of the municipality.
“We demand that the leadership come clean about financial decisions that have rendered the municipality dysfunctional,” Ndaba said.
The ANC has also called for decisive consequences against officials implicated in the municipality’s operational failures.
The situation has drawn the attention of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA).
Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa is expected to visit the district to assess the situation.
While the ANC welcomed the minister’s impending oversight visit, the party described it as overdue, stating that significant damage to the municipality had already occurred.
The DA's caucus leader in the municipality, Thys Rensburg, advocated for leadership changes and said that would be the only solution that could take the municipality out of the quagmire it found itself in.
“We need to ask ourselves why there is no political will to fix this,” said Rensburg.
IFP spokesperson Fanele Mhlongo did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
DAILY NEWS