In the wake of the release of audit outcomes evaluating the financial state of municipalities across the country, the National Freedom Party (NFP) has called for harsh punishment to be meted out to senior municipal managers who abused public funds.
The party, which is a kingmaker in various councils in KwaZulu-Natal, said in an effort to expose the rot local government the offenders should be named and shamed.
“These figures are shocking and terrifying. They paint a picture of a rot in a very important sphere of government,” party secretary Canaan Mdletshe said on Friday.
“They demonstrate that municipalities are collapsing right before us. Things should not be allowed to continue like this. Drastic measures must be put in place and action taken.”
Auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke painted a gloomy picture of municipals’ state of affairs, noting that out of 257 total municipalities across the country, only 38 managed to receive clean audits.
She told a parliamentary committee that municipalities racked up R4.74-billion in fruitless and wasteful expenditure, R25.47-billion in unauthorised expenditure, and that the R1.6-billion spent on consultants had proven ineffective
KwaZulu-Natal toped the list of municipalities who used consultants to balance their books
“By exposing the senior managers, we would be exposing corruption, fraud, financial mismanagement, irregular expenditures, lack of leadership and skills,” said the NFP.
“We want managers to be publicised because we are of the view that the same managers who have been failing in different municipalities are being moved around instead of firing them.
“We want a list of all managers in municipalities that hold a record of being repeat offenders to be made public, so they cannot be appointed in any municipality in the country.”
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