Minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs Velenkosini Hlabisa recently confirmed North West recorded the highest consultant expenditure of any province in South Africa. Delareyville-based Tswaing reportedly spent some R17m on financial reporting consultants but still received a qualified audit opinion with material misstatements.

Despite the expenditure, the municipality incurred R130.4m in unauthorised expenditure during the 2024/25 financial year, bringing its cumulative unauthorised expenditure balance to approximately R711m.

‘Kodisang raised concerns about ongoing consultant 
expenditure in municipalities’

ActionSA North West MPL Masego Kodisang said Hlabisa’s response confirmed a troubling trend of municipalities relying heavily on consultants despite continued financial mismanagement and poor service delivery. During the Scopa proceedings on Thursday (18/6), Kodisang raised concerns about ongoing consultant expenditure in municipalities that continue to struggle with achieving credible financial management outcomes.

She questioned why Bojanala Platinum district municipality spent R29m on external consultants for the preparation of financial statements. Nevertheless, the quality of those statements deteriorated, with twelve material line items requiring adjustments. 

Kodisang also highlighted spending in Moses Kotane municipality, where consultant expenditure reportedly included R11.4m for the preparation of financial statements and an additional R9.6m for asset management services.

“ActionSA maintains that municipalities cannot continue to spend millions on consultants while recurring audit failures, unauthorised expenditure and weak financial controls persist year after year.”

Meanwhile, the Special Investigating Unit revealed the extent of irregularities uncovered through its investigations into municipal contracts.

SIU acting head Leonard Lekgetho told Scopa contracts worth R1.1bn have been referred to municipalities for civil proceedings since 2012. During the same period, contracts valued at R545m were declared invalid and set aside.

Despite these interventions, the SIU has recovered only R1.1 million so far, while R58.9m in potential cash or assets remains under investigation.

Lekgetho also said 362 cases have been referred to the NPA for criminal investigation. In addition, 222 disciplinary referrals and 629 administrative actions have been initiated.

Investigations conducted in both the Free State and North West provinces uncovered recurring governance failures. Lekgetho said these included irregular procurement processes, corruption, missing tender documentation, and contractors failing to deliver on projects. North West municipalities have also faced serious allegations relating to procurement irregularities.

SIU advocate Victoria Mdlalose told the committee a R25m contract for generators was allegedly awarded by Ditsobotla municipality over the phone, without a formal agreement in place at the time.

The procurement took place during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. Mdlalose said the price of generators was allegedly inflated from R250,000 to R500,000, raising further concerns about possible corruption and maladministration within local government procurement processes.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi sm

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