The metro's CFO, Zuziwe Thekisho, disclosed the figure on Thursday (29/7) while appearing before members of the Free State Legislature. She appeared alongside City Manager Sello More and other senior municipal officials.

The officials were called to account following a series of governance and financial concerns. 

These included allegations relating to financial management, legislative compliance, the implementation of council resolutions, internal controls, revenue management, service delivery, and issues raised in the Auditor-General's (AG) report.

More is currently under investigation and has reportedly also been issued a certificate of debt, which allows the AG to hold an accounting officer personally liable for financial losses caused by the mismanagement of public funds.

Addressing legislators, Thekisho said Mangaung’s audit bill was significantly higher than that of other metropolitan municipalities. “I think Mangaung’s bill to AG is the highest in the country. 

“The total cost of audit for Mangaung is R32m. When you look into the cost of audit fees in other cities, they are still hovering around R12m, R15m, and we have been trying to understand what is driving this cost of auditing higher than any other metro with a higher budget. 

“Okay, they are raising issues of the sluggishness from the city in terms of the response, especially on your performance reporting. The bill is too high, but we never have arrears; the account is paid within 30 days,” said Thekisho.

Meanwhile, Mangaung’s Financial Misconduct Disciplinary Board continues investigating 17 cases of alleged unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure amounting to billions of rand. Several of the matters have been consolidated to speed up the process, with one investigation involving alleged irregular expenditure of R5.4 billion.

The metro remains under intense scrutiny following repeated adverse audit findings and ongoing concerns about governance and financial management.

Despite mounting financial pressure and criticism from oversight bodies, Mangaung has continued to attribute many of its governance, financial, and service delivery failures to years of political instability and administrative dysfunction.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi mvh

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