Latest news with #KZNLegislature-StandingCommitteeonPublicAccounts
The Star
12-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
AG still concerned about use of consultants in KZN municipalities
The Auditor General South Africa (AGSA) has seen an improvement in some KwaZulu-Natal municipalities including their reliance on consultants which decreased from R240 million to R220 million spent annually. Image: File The office of the Auditor General South Africa (AGSA) has seen an improvement in some KwaZulu-Natal municipalities, and while consultants are widely used, there has been a reduction in consultancy fees from R240 million to R220 million in the last financial year. Irregular expenditure also decreased from R6.2 billion to R5.7 billion. Nomalungelo Mkhize, AGSA Business Unit Leader in KZN, presented the local government audit outcomes of the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA) to the KZN Legislature-Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) and the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs(Cogta), on Tuesday. Mkhize said they made a call to action at the end of the financial cycle in 2022 and 2023, requesting leadership to ensure that the key service delivery indicators are being prioritised with adequate funding to fast track infrastructure projects and to ensure that there is adequate budget for repairs and maintenance. Mkhize said that the AGSA has seen an increase or a gradual improvement compared to 2022 and 2023 in terms of the audit outcomes. Mkhize said that this demonstrates that the municipalities and the officials are able to present a credible set of financial statements indicating how the monies have been spent. 'Although we have seen a decrease in the use of consultants there are a number of municipalities that do use consultants for financial reporting. We still find misstatements in the work that the consultants are doing and at times the consultants are taking on work where they can see that they may not be able to conclude the work with quality. "We are also finding that consultants are not being monitored to see whether there is delivery according to what was contracted for." The AGSA said that municipalities are still struggling with action plans not being implemented and that there was a lack of enforcement being taken against officials that are found to have transgressed previously. Mkhize said that this is the root cause for the continued transgressions and the non-performance in some municipalities. "It then creates the culture that non-compliance can go on without the necessary consequence management. Officials are not being held accountable," she said. Mkhize said that poor payment practices are resulting in interest charges and penalties. Mkhize said poor management of electricity and water distribution losses are above the acceptable norms in a number of municipalities. "There is a concern regarding the credibility of share grants received from national and provincial government. If it was any other business they would actually be at a point where they need to be closed. There is also insufficient funds that are available to complete projects," she said. The AGSA said that in municipalities that ended the year in deficit, where expenditure was more than revenue, many of them already started eating into the next year's budget. [email protected]
IOL News
17-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Serious irregularities found in Msunduzi Municipality's management
Msunduzi Local Municipality has come under the spotlight after the Auditor-General South Africa presented the local government audit outcomes of the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA) to the KZN Legislature-Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) and the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta). Image: Doctor Ngcobo Independent Newspapers The Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) found several problems with projects in KwaZulu-Natal municipalities more especially the Msunduzi Municipality. The AGSA looked at 15 infrastructure projects in the eThekwini, Msunduzi, uMhlathuze, KwaDukuza, Okhahlamba and uMkhanyakude municipalities. The AGSA said there were five new projects and 10 projects where they did follow-ups on the prior year findings and continued auditing the project as part of its life cycle. Nomalungelo Mkhize, AGSA Business Unit Leader in KZN, presented the local government audit outcomes of the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA) to the KZN Legislature-Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) and the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) on Tuesday. In the Msunduzi Municipality (MM), the AGSA found: Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ MM did not earn revenue from landfill sites because the weighbridge digitiser at the municipal landfill site had been out of order for six months in 2019-20. Vehicles entering the site were not weighed and, therefore, there was no record of tonnage deposited. MM made salary payments from December 2016 to July 2019 to an employee who never reported for duty from their appointment date. The AGSA stated that the municipality received no services in return for the payments made. MM did not take reasonable measures at the New England landfill site to prevent pollution or degradation of the environment from occurring, continuing or recurring. The MM was non- compliant with the National Environmental Management Act MM failed to implement credit control and debt collection policy by not disconnecting or restricting services, nor arranging debt recovery with consumer debtors. This led to significant unpaid debts, resulting in the write-off of some consumer debtors as bad debts in the 2020-21 financial year. In 2021-22, prepaid electricity consumers with prepaid meters did not purchase electricity, and management did not address this due to the lack of timely internal audits to identify tampered or bypassed meters. The AGSA stated that the non-compliance may have resulted in a financial loss for the MM MM awarded a contract for constructing the Copesville Reservoir in February 2020, set to finish in November 2021. Due to poor planning and project management, the project was delayed by 22 months, incurring extra costs without changing the scope of work. The AGSA stated that the project is still incomplete at 95%. the accounting officer paid scarce skills allowances to certain employees without evidence of eligibility or an approved policy. Despite a council resolution to stop these payments, they were reinstated in 2023/2024 without prior approval. The accounting officer has not facilitated recovery or approval processes for these allowances, nor approved the related policy. MM municipality failed to collect revenue that became due in December 2019 from a service provider for the disposal of timber in terms of the service level agreement. Anthony Waldhausen, chairperson of the Msunduzi Association of Residents,Ratepayers and Civics (MARRC) said they noted the AGSA report and they were aghast at the material irregularities at the revenue not billed at the landfill site. Waldhausen said many residents complained about the situation at the landfill site and how they experienced delays to enter the landfill site. He said most left their refuse outside the landfill site out of frustration. 'It is the norm at the municipality where most of the municipal equipment and vehicles are never repaired and maintained. This shows that the municipality is completely dysfunctional. The other irregularities reported was that of salary paid to a manager that never reported for duty for five years. This is a dereliction of duty by the municipal manager to not address irregularity in time. This is gross negligence and poor consequence management against the manager,' Waldhausen said. Waldhausen said every effort of intervention to improve the situation at the municipality is not working. 'Municipal staff are unprofessional and unethical and this behaviour needs to urgently be addressed by the current acting municipal manager. They should recover the money for the past five years even if it means attaching the manager's pension. We as residents cannot continue to pay for poor service delivery and unethical municipal staff,' Waldhausen said. Anthony Waldhausen is co-founder and chairperson for the Msunduzi Association of Residents, Ratepayers and Civics (MARRC). Image: Supplied
IOL News
15-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
AGSA report reveals mismanagement in KwaZulu-Natal infrastructure projects
The KwaZulu-Natal Legislature in Pietermaritzburg, where the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) presented its findings on contractors appointed to key infrastructure projects in KwaZulu-Natal that were not qualified or capable of performing the required work leading to substandard quality and cost overruns. Image: Shan Pillay The Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) found contractors appointed to key infrastructure projects in KwaZulu-Natal were not qualified or capable of performing the required work, leading to substandard quality and cost overruns. The AGSA found that the KwaNqetho Reservoir in the eThekwini municipality, a critical water infrastructure project, was delayed because of mismanagement. In addition, the material used around the reservoir platform indicated poor backfilling compaction, particularly on the steep slope of the reservoir. Nomalungelo Mkhize, AGSA Business Unit Leader in KZN, presented the local government audit outcomes of the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA) to the KZN Legislature-Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) and the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) on Tuesday. The AGSA looked at 15 infrastructure projects in the eThekwini, Msunduzi, uMhlathuze, KwaDukuza, Okhahlamba and uMkhanyakude municipalities. The AGSA said there were five new projects and 10 projects where they did follow-ups on the prior year findings and continued auditing the project as part of its life cycle. The AGSA also audited existing infrastructure which they identified in different stages of a project life cycle including wastewater treatment works, solid waste, landfill sites and roads. The AGSA found that the Mkhizwana Water Treatment Works project in eThekwini was delayed by 221 days due to gross negligence in the preparation of designs and drawings. Also, the Nondabuya Water Supply Scheme in the Umkhanyakude was delayed with only 726 of 1,811 households being connected to the reticulation system. The AGSA found that installation was in a worse condition compared to the previous audit. Other infrastructure delivery weaknesses include the Austerville Substation south of Durban, which was intended to supply increased and stable electricity to industrial, commercial and residential customers. The project has been in the planning phase for 15 years. The AGSA stated that this project faced significant delays due to project mismanagement, planning inefficiencies, contractor-related issues and financial mismanagement. The AGSA said that the civil works portion of the Austerville project was originally planned to be completed by 18 August 2021. However, due to multiple stoppages, the project was delayed, ultimately leading to the termination of the contractor on 25 January 2023 with only 63.97% of the work completed. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading The Namibia Stop 8 Housing Project in eThekwini, aimed at delivering 343 housing units, remains behind schedule with only 29 units completed as of September 2024. The AGSA raised concerns regarding project oversight, resource allocation, and contractor accountability. Its' report stated that causes of delays were due to poor quality cost overruns and service interruptions, largely due to inadequate project planning and needs assessment. The AGSA found that many of the projects suffered from inadequate needs assessment and project planning. It found numerous cases, where the contractors were appointed were not qualified or capable of performing the required work to meet the agreed upon standards. This included delays in meeting milestones and failed to adhere to contract specifications leading to substandard quality and cost overruns.
