As Gauteng residents suffer a total amount of R5.82 billion has been lost due to fruitless and wasteful expenditure in the past three years. As this crisis has worsened, Premier Panyaza Lesufi has done nothing to ease the burden on residents. Water and electricity outages, potholes, sinkholes, and sewerage flooding within their homes and streets are a few of the many problems that the residents face daily.
Service delivery has collapsed across all Gauteng municipalities, except the DA-led Midvaal.
The Auditor-General’s report for the 2023/2024 financial year paints a bleak picture regarding the finances of most of the local and district municipalities. Nine municipalities in the province have unfunded budgets and must deliver services without a sufficient allocation of funds. So far, municipalities with unfunded budgets have spent R120.63 billion.
Unauthorised expenditure currently stands at R8.46 billion for the 2023/2024 financial year and R17.99 billion for the last three financial years, including the 2023/2024 financial year. Furthermore, fruitless and wasteful expenditure amounted to R1.25 billion for the 2023/2024 financial year.
Unauthorised expenditure is money used for goods and services that were not allocated for in a budget. The fruitless and wasteful expenditure is money spent on goods and services that did not benefit the residents of this province.
It is high time that Gauteng Premier Lesufi and his MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Jacob Mamabolo, get their act together and ensure that municipalities, particularly the local and district municipalities in this province, start providing the services our residents deserve and pay for.
Yes, this can be done by assisting municipalities that are failing to provide funded budgets and that regularly incur unauthorised, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure year after year.
A DA-led Gauteng provincial government would immediately assess all municipalities in the province that have an unfunded budget and owe bulk Eskom and Rand Water. A proper plan to pay the debt owed to these service providers would be in place, and regular assistance will be provided to the officials in the municipality to ensure that every rand spent goes towards service delivery that is budgeted for.