Members of Parliament and the Office of the Auditor-General in the Free State attended the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) meeting. Masilonyana’s audit outcomes have painted a damning picture of chronic financial mismanagement. 

It has been plagued by poor governance, unaccounted expenditures, and repeated audit disclaimers for almost a decade.

Opposition parties have referred to the Theunissen-based municipality as a symbol of dysfunction. Over the past decade, it has received a disclaimer audit opinion nine times, failing to submit proper financial records or statements for scrutiny.

Residents, opposition parties, and even law enforcement have raised growing concerns over the worsening state of services and transparency in the ANC-run municipality.

Masilonyana Municipality’s audit manager, Gregory Coetzee, laid bare the extent of the rot during the briefing. “The National Treasury keeps telling the municipality that ‘your budget is not funded’. 

““One of the things we’ve seen, for example, is that on the indigents’ consumer costs, National Treasury crafted the basket to be R9,000–R10,000 for indigent consumers. However, the municipality is financing R23,000, so already it’s (more than) double what National Treasury is suggesting.

“(For) water and sewerage infrastructure, the budget was R100 in the 2022/23 financial year. In 2023/24, we did not see it, but we do notice that because of the conditional grant, at least they’re spending on it, so the budget itself is wrong.”

Coetzee said the municipality racked up R1.1 billion in unauthorised expenditure during the 2022/23 financial year alone. He said auditors were unable to assess key aspects of the municipality’s performance, such as water losses, debt collection, and fruitless and wasteful expenditure, due to a complete lack of reporting.

“In the audit report, water income and expenses did not match as required by the accounting framework,” Coetzee said.

For years, many households have been forced to endure weeks without access to water, driving public outrage and, at times, violent protests.

Anger on the ground is palpable as residents continue to call for intervention, accusing municipal leaders of corruption and incompetence. The recurring service failures have led to calls for the municipality to be dissolved or merged with the nearby Mangaung Metro.

MPs did not mince their words during the Scopa session. Slamming Masilonyana officials, MPs accused them of being “skilled to loot” and failing the people they are supposed to serve.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi cg