Financial mismanagement and poor service delivery are far from over as Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) receives another qualified audit report from the Auditor-General (AG) for the 2022/2023 financial year. This has been happening over two consecutive years.
According to the AG’s Consolidated General Report on Local Government Audit Outcomes, new matters emerged, resulting in this municipality stagnating on a qualified audit opinion. These include:
• Court cases within the municipality
• Attachment of the bank account
• Insurance risks
• Bulk losses (water and electricity)
• Non-payment of suppliers within 30 days
• Failure to investigate identified instances of unauthorised, irregular and fruitless expenditure
• Deviations that do not meet the requirements per SCM Regulations 36
See the Emfuleni Municipality Audited Annual Report 2022/2023 here.
In the 2022/2023 financial year, Emfuleni incurred an irregular expenditure of R92.3 million. The fruitless and wasteful expenditure amounted to R598.1 million, and the unauthorised expenditure reached a staggering R2.2 billion.
These figures make it abundantly clear that this is a municipality in disarray as far as financial management is concerned. A large part of this is due to corruption and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA’s) failure to strengthen governance and address instances of non-compliance.
The collapse of governance in Emfuleni has led to immense suffering for the residents. The situation is dire: there’s no money to pay for Eskom and Rand Water, refuse is not being collected, and roads are littered with potholes and flooded by sewage. The health and safety risks faced by the residents are just the tip of the iceberg.
The fact that the Midvaal Local Municipality, which is a stone away from Emfuleni, has achieved clean audits for ten consecutive years demonstrates that financial integrity and accountability can lead to success.
A Democratic Alliance (DA) government wants to rescue the residents of Emfuleni and bring this excellence in service delivery by ending corruption and mismanagement that have plagued the municipality.
Emfuleni ratepayers deserve more than a government defined by incompetence, scandal, and inefficiency.