The adverse audit report findings by the auditor-general, Tsakani Maluleke, vindicated the long-held view that the DA-led coalition is “incompetent, corrupt and lacks the ability to lead”, according to George Matjila, ANC regional secretary in Tshwane.
Matjila said the coalition was formed only to remove the ANC from the seat of government and was never ready to address the ailing infrastructure, deliver services and create much-needed jobs.
“In 2016, minority parties were coerced into an unprincipled coalition that elevated the Democratic Alliance and placed it on a pedestal when the ANC warned that any support offered in the coalition is not based on principle but is used to consolidate a neoliberal agenda and backwardness,” said Matjila.
“The first political term of the DA-led coalition was strengthened through EFF support and its performance or lack thereof is evident and well-captured by the AGSA [Auditor-General of South Africa] in the last two audited financial years.
“In 2020 when the Gauteng provincial government took a decision to place the City of Tshwane under section 139[1][c], it was found to have acted harshly by both the Gauteng North High Court and the Constitutional Court, but the apex court agreed that the Gauteng executive committee should have looked for other options to institute remedial action.
“We believe that the ANC in Tshwane was correct to seek immediate intervention because there was no political and administrative leadership. Service delivery collapsed in every region and this was an act of sabotage to the citizens.
“The AG [auditor-general] followed what the internal performance audit has pointed out in all of its work: lack of leadership, poor reporting and continuous inaccurate and misrepresentation of facts.”
Maluleke has since flagged R10-billion worth of irregular expenditure in Tshwane. Her report suggests that the city had been manipulating its financial statements in an effort to hide the irregularities and corruption.
The ANC this week used Maluleke’s findings to lambast the DA-led coalition citing unauthorised expenditure of more than R600-million including fruitless and wasteful expenditure understated by over R1-billion based on Maluleke’s audit report.
Matjila said: “There was unjustified supply chain management deviations of over R480-million without reason, material mis-statement of assets under construction and disclosed as completed, which means they were overstated by R2 billion.
“Assets worth over R52-billion were not properly accounted for, not valued properly and the impairment of those assets not properly assessed. Leave pay amount of over R800-million not properly accounted for, including loans and bonds amounting to over R800-million were not correctly accounted for.”
The ANC also said in the past seven years, the DA-led coalition had moved from one scandal to another and consolidated the collapse of the city.
“The lame excuse for failing to provide safety in communities, clean water, reliable public transport and clean environment was that the ANC is either to be blamed or apportioned blame. We can therefore, without repeating many failures from the DA-led coalition, state that there is no future in the current coalition of parties.
“We are appalled by the silence of ActionSA and Freedom Front Plus [FF Plus] on the current state of affairs. All the parties have buried their heads in the sand.”
On Tuesday, the multi-party coalition comprising ActionSA, Freedom Front Plus, IFP, African Christian Democratic Party, Cope and the DA released a statement saying all the political parties remain unequivocal in their view that the audit outcome was unacceptable by the higher standards of a group of parties working to reverse the legacy of failed ANC governance.
Corne Muller, spokesperson for the coalition, said: “The meeting received compelling information that a number of audit findings arose from the seemingly deliberate actions of the former CFO [chief financial officer] to mislead the structures of the City of Tshwane and undersupply available information to the auditor-general.
“Equally, serious concerns about systems and controls have been revealed that demonstrate important improvements of governance that must be implemented urgently, as well as consequence management for departmental failures. The coalition oversight group concluded to meet again in the coming days.
“The focus of this meeting will be the issue of political consequence management, as well as the oversight the group will have of the Tshwane multi-party coalition government’s plans to implement the remedial steps outlined by the auditor-general.
“All political parties in the governing multi-party coalition in Tshwane have indicated a commitment to demonstrate our difference to failed ANC governance by virtue of the decisive actions we take in response to the auditor-general’s report.”
Matjila said the MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs in Gauteng, Mzi Khumalo, had tried to solicit a comprehensive response on the ongoing financial challenges faced by Tshwane, but was allegedly given a lukewarm answer that was “laced with lies and cover-ups”.
“We are a constitutional democracy and would like to encourage the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs to institute section 139[5] of the constitution as a remedy effective immediately,” Matjila said.
“We will also write to the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, on the water crisis both Hammanskraal and Bronkhorspruit, and for him to consider implementing section 63 of the Water Service Act. We need national government intervention on this historic and difficult task of providing clean and safe water in those communities.”
He also said the South African Local Government Association should lend a hand on the prevailing challenges in Tshwane.
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