Briefing the media on how Free State municipalities are performing, the AG’s Free State head, Luthando Mbandazayo, says an urgent intervention is needed at all the municipalities. This, as none of them have produced a clean audit and incurred irregular expenditure of more than R1.7 billion as compared to the R1.1 billion that was incurred the year before. 

Outlining the province’s local government’s audit results for the 2018/19 financial year, Mbandazayo further painted a bleak picture when he confirmed eight municipalities, including the infamous Maluti-A-Phofung, failed to submit financial statements, making the Free State the province with the highest municipalities failing to comply. In addition to their debacle with escalating Eskom and water board debts, Mbandazayo confirmed non-compliance with supply chain procedures is a major concern.

Amongst municipalities failing to follow proper procurement processes and as a result, incurring high irregular expenditure, is the Mangaung Metro Municipality - leading the pack with R842,46 million irregular expenditure recorded over the past three years, followed by Ngwathe and Setsoto Local Municipalities.

Mangaung recently made national news when ANC members voted with opposition parties in a secret ballot to oust Executive Mayor Olly Mlamleli.

The motion of no confidence by the Freedom Front Plus saw Mlamleli being kicked to the curb on August 7 after surviving at least two motions brought against her in the past.

Opposition parties have for years said under Mlamleli the municipality not only became the first metro to be placed under administration but was also downgraded twice by Moody’s credit ratings agency.

Although the municipality was placed under provincial care last year December, following National Treasury's letter to Premier Sisi Ntombela expressing concerns over its inability to generate revenue and provide services to residents, calls for the ruling party to prioritise residents and ensure service delivery persisted.

Mbandazayo says municipalities in the province not only fail to generate enough revenue but have a history of high irregular expenditure, which urgently needs to be dealt with.

“They must practice preventative controls. Senior managers and accounting officers must work to build a strong control environment culture that will have preventative controls,” he highlighted.

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