EFF Free State statement on the findings of the AG regarding FS Municipalities
3 September 2024
Municipalities in the Free State are setting the standard in failure, the Auditor-General's latest report on the state of municipalities is an irrefutable indictment of the ruling party's complete failure to govem and deliver basic services to the people.
The Auditor-General's findings expose a province in crisis, where financial mismanagement, corruption, and blatant neglect have become the norm. The report depicts a bleak reality in which municipalities are overwhelmed by debt, unable to deliver even the most fundamental services. Six Municipalities have no chief financial officer (CFO) there and13 municipalities reported that they unable to meet their debts.
Further that Treasury is withholding funds because of underspending. How can 539 million Rands intended for infrastructure remain unspent when the streets of our townships are flowing with rivers of sewage? This level of incompetence can only exist under a leadership that is either completely ignorant of its responsibilities or willfully blind to the obvious crises before them.
The Auditor General reports that 75% of municipalities in the Free State still depend on consultants to prepare or review their financial statements due to a lack of skills and vacancies in their finance departments. Consequently, consultant fees for financial reporting in the province have surged from R39.75 million last year to R54.51 million in 2022-23, with Mangaung Metro alone accounting for R14.64 million of this expenditure.
All of this is happening against the backdrop of a staggering 38.5% unemployment rate in the province. This province needs the strengthening Of state capacity, not a continued reliance on costly consultants. Investing in building a competent and skilled public sector is the only sustainable solution to address the challenges we face.
Instead of fulfilling their mandate to rescue the Maluti-A-Phofung Municipality, the intervention team, particularly the former Municipal Manager (MM) Amos Goliath has engaged in blatant misuse of resources. Shockingly, the MM who spends almost R700 thousand per month on personal security. Who does this official feel the need to be protected from, his own comrades whom he was sent to assist? This extravagant spending raises serious questions about the priorities and intentions of those who are supposed to be restoring order and service delivery to the municipality.
Nala Municipality, notorious for its inefficiencies, has been conveniently left without any intervention, clearly a calculated move to enable unchecked looting.
The lack of effective governance has led to communities suffering without access to essential services, proving that the ruling party has abandoned its most basic duties to the people of the Free State. The Premier and her MEC's are failing miserably.
The repeated failure to address issues raised in previous audits shows a blatant disregard for transparency and accountability. The ruling party's leadership is unwilling to implement the necessary changes as they benefit from the lawlessness.
We call upon the Premier, who has direct control over service delivery, to act within her mandate and take decisive action to improve the institutional performance of these municipalities.
We call for a government that prioritizes the needs of the people and ensures that public funds are used to improve their lives, not line the pockets of the corrupt.
We will not rest until the people of the Free State have a government that works for them, and not against them.
Issued by Mapheule Liphoko, Provincial Chairperson, EFF, 3 September 2024
