Note to Broadcasters: Please find a linked soundbite in English by Cllr Nkateko Mabunda.
The Bojanala District Municipality received a qualified audit opinion from the Auditor-General (AG) for the financial year 2022/23. The report was tabled and considered by the District Council last week.
The municipality incurred irregular expenditure of R36,2 million topping R643 million. The bulk of this expenditure is due to the failure of the district municipality to adhere to supply chain management regulations. The municipality failed to calculate the full amount of the irregular expenditure, and therefore, it was impossible to verify the subsequent understatement of the irregular expenditure of R643 429 142.
Unauthorised expenditure totals R395 million with R88 million incurred during the 2022/23 financial year. Fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R147,000.00 was recorded bringing the total to R7,4 million, this expenditure was incurred because of avoidable interest charges and penalties due to late payments.
Both the Mayor, Victoria Makhaula, and the Acting Municipal Manager, Dr AJ Mothupi, in their reports, indicated that they are pleased with the performance of the municipality, however, the AG was unable to verify performance related to service delivery against expenditure, especially towards road maintenance.
In addition, the refusal by the municipality to adhere to the provisions of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA and the supply chain management regulation continues to contribute significantly to irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. Bojanala also failed to investigate any instance of financial mismanagement, and as a result, officials guilty of these transgressions continue to operate with impunity. No investigations or disciplinary sanctions have been brought against any official.
The DA has written to Provincial Treasury, requesting an investigation into Bojanala’s persistent financial mismanagement to ensure accountability of officials that continue to subvert the provisions of the MFMA. See the letter here.
Bojanala residents are not receiving the services they are entitled to, quite plainly, because the ANC-led government cannot stick to the law and as a result, hundreds of millions of Rands are wasted through the system, money that should go towards infrastructure maintenance and service delivery programmes.
We encourage all residents to vote DA in this year’s elections so that we can get rid of the ANC in government to rescue Bojanala, the North West and South Africa from complete collapse.