Durban — The Bluff Ratepayers and Residents Association (BRRA), along with other concerned civic groups, voiced their “profound” dissatisfaction with the persistent governance failures and financial mismanagement within the eThekwini Municipality.

Vice-chairperson of the BRRA Allison Schoeman reacted to Auditor General Tsakani Maluleke’s municipal outcomes report that only four out of KwaZulu-Natal’s 54 municipalities received a clean audit for 2022/2023.

Maluleke told the portfolio committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) that her office continued to encounter the same challenges across the bulk of the country’s municipalities that they have been highlighting for years, with little or no change.

“South Africa’s municipalities are regressing in terms of their financial reporting; fruitless and wasteful expenditure stands at R7.41 billion – up from R4.89bn in 2021/22 – while unauthorised expenditure is at R24.12bn. And only 34 of the 257 that were audited for the 2022/23 financial year achieved clean audits,” Maluleke said.

He added that there had been little change and – despite commitments made for improvement – action has been too slow with little impact on the lived realities of ordinary South Africans.

Committee chairperson and former health minister Zweli Mkhize noted several key challenges that the national Cogta department – represented in the session by Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa and Deputy Minister Parks Tau – should prioritise efforts to curb the regression.

These priorities include:

The continued regress in audit outcomes.
The high cost of consultants where there should be an effort to build internal capacity within municipalities.
The recurring challenge of unfunded budgets.
The apparent lack of consequences for administrators in struggling municipalities – even after the AG has flagged issues.
The status of criminal investigations arising from the AG’s findings on material irregularities.

Schoeman said that despite numerous engagements and public outcry, the situation remained dire, with significant negative impacts on the residents and businesses of Durban.

She said the AG’s report arrived after the damage had been done, merely highlighting the problems without offering solutions or ensuring corrective action.

“The AG’s scope is limited, focusing solely on financial records that can be manipulated, leaving many underlying issues unaddressed.

eThekwini’s infrastructure is in a state of collapse, with roads, water systems and sanitation facilities deteriorating rapidly.

“The municipality’s failure to allocate sufficient capital for infrastructure maintenance has left our city vulnerable, as seen during the recent floods.

“The backlog in basic repairs, such as pothole fixes, is unacceptable, and the continued closure of beaches due to high E coli levels is damaging our vital tourism industry,” Schoeman said.

She said the city is already burdened by economic challenges, and the recent proposal to increase electricity tariffs by 15.1% is a “slap in the face to residents”.

“Many of our elderly citizens, relying on meagre Sassa pensions, are unable to cope with these rising costs, leading to a heartbreaking increase in the number of people losing their homes and ending up on the streets.

“It is unconscionable that government spending continues unchecked, with the assumption that residents will always have the means to cover the failings of local officials,” Schoeman said.

She added that the time for change was now and that ratepayers could not afford to wait any longer while the city fell into disrepair and residents bore the financial burden of unchecked municipal mismanagement.

“A special committee must be established in each municipality to conduct a thorough conditional assessment, including representatives from ratepayers’ associations.

“This committee would reconcile physical repairs against invoices to ensure value for money and to curtail excessive spending.

“Such measures are essential to restore accountability and oversight, where they are currently lacking, and to prevent the reckless use of taxpayer funds that is pushing our economy to the brink of collapse,” Schoeman said.

Ish Prahladh, president of the eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association, blamed poor audits on management not being able to “control their staff and allowing contractor friends and family to be awarded tenders”.

“A prime example is that three contractors are tasked to fix a simple leak with many hours added to the list. Our new eThekwini mayor must get heads to roll from his management team to the office staff. If you fix that major leak in management and staff, half your problems are solved.

“We request that deadwood staff be removed. Then the municipality will gain its status. Get the ratepayer associations involved in monitoring and supervision because they are on the ground,” Prahladh said.

DA KZN spokesperson on Cogta, MPL Marlaine Nair, said that this is the sad reality as corruption and mismanagement have taken precedence over the needs of KZN’s people.

Nair said: “Residents have been left to bear the brunt of poor service delivery, broken infrastructure and lack of basic services. This, while money meant to improve residents’ lives is wasted through poor financial decisions or lost to corruption.”

She said KZN’s audit outcomes highlighted the need to institutionalise internal controls in order to achieve credible financial and performance reporting; and what was vital was improved compliance with key legislation, through the appointment of skilled personnel, developing and continuously monitoring audit action plans and implementing proper consequence management.

eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said the positive aspects of the audit include that the City received an unqualified audit opinion.

She said the City was working to address the concerns raised by the AG’s findings.

She added that the performance, monitoring and evaluations unit was working with management and officials of the units to verify results reported and supporting documentation evidence, to prevent future findings.

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