The North West Provincial Legislature’s Standing Committee on Provincial Public Accounts (SCOPA), chaired by Hon. Smuts Matshe, has expressed deep shock and concern over the growing levels of unauthorised, irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure (UIF&W) at the City of Matlosana Local Municipality, which has now ballooned to over R11 billion in the 2024/25 financial year.
The figure marks a dramatic rise from R6 billion recorded in the 2021/22 financial year, when the current municipal council took office. SCOPA’s concerns were raised during a recent public hearing, where the municipality was called to account for the escalating UIF&W and the poor functionality of its Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC).
During the session, Mayor Cllr. Fikile Mahlope and Speaker Cllr. Stella Mondlane-Ngwenya conceded that mechanisms for political oversight and accountability were weak and in urgent need of strengthening. Mondlane-Ngwenya admitted that the municipality lacked adequate oversight structures to hold directors and departments accountable.
“Only MPAC and a shared audit committee have been our oversight and accountability structures,” she told the committee.
Hon. Matshe described the situation as alarming, citing the ineffective use of oversight mechanisms such as council committees, MPAC, shared internal audit services, and the Financial Misconduct and Disciplinary Board (FMDB).
He revealed that in the 2021/22 financial year, unauthorised expenditure stood at R3.1 billion, rising to R6.3 billion, while fruitless and wasteful expenditure shot up from R85.6 million to R821.4 million. Irregular expenditure remained high at R3.6 billion, with R1.2 billion written off or condoned in 2023.
Mayor Mahlope admitted that double payments to service providers had occurred due to weak internal controls and manipulation within the supply chain management (SCM) system.
“There are cases of financial misconduct that have been reported to the council, MPAC, and FMDB for investigations,” said Mahlope.
Hon. Matshe expressed frustration that manual financial transactions had been used to process duplicate payments exceeding R5 million, calling it a serious abuse of public funds.
“It is disturbing that such practices seem to have been tolerated by the Municipal Council, where junior officials are disciplined while senior managers who initiated and approved these illegal transactions appear to be protected,” he said.
He further highlighted that some directorates continued to procure services outside of the SCM Unit and without valid purchase orders, resulting in widespread non-compliance and the bypassing of competitive bidding procedures.
“This points to deep-rooted challenges in managing public resources. The SCM Unit only gets involved when payments are processed, which makes accountability difficult,” added Matshe.
The SCOPA chairperson criticised the 2024/25 UIF&W reduction strategy, saying it had not produced meaningful results, while service delivery in the municipality continued to deteriorate.
He rejected explanations citing overspending, expired contracts, and tender irregularities as insufficient, emphasising that poor management controls and lack of investigations had worsened the situation.
admin
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings