Africa-Press – South-Africa. KwaZulu-Natal finance MEC Francois Rodgers has withdrawn financial support to the troubled Umkhanyakude district municipality.
Municipal officials are allegedly not co-operating with experts assigned by the provincial Treasury to help them turn around the council.
Rodgers said they have applied almost all avenues to help Umkhanyakude to no avail.
“We have a limited budget as a provincial Treasury. We are not a service delivery [department] but one of our tasks is to try to capacitate and ensure fiscal compliance.
“Our teams have been involved there for six years trying to help in turning around the situation, but officials on the ground are making it difficult for us to do our work,” he said, adding the funds could be better spent elsewhere.
Umkhanyakude was placed under administration by the KwaZulu-Natal government.
There was drama earlier this month when co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Thulasizwe Buthelezi was barred from using the council offices when he came to announce the decision to place the municipality under administration.
On Sunday, Buthelezi said he has been instructed by auditor-general (AG) Tsakani Maluleke to intervene in Umkhanyakude.
Umkhanyakude officials are resisting the decision, saying it is politically motivated. They have since taken Buthelezi to court.
“The auditor-general has requested that I intervene in the Umkhanyakude district municipality due to the municipality’s consistent failure to address material findings. These findings stem from the municipality’s inability to implement a credit and debt collection policy, as required by the Municipal Finance Management Act,” said Buthelezi.
A material irregularity (MI) is defined in the Public Audit Act (PAA) as “any noncompliance with, or contravention of legislation, fraud, theft or a breach of a fiduciary duty identified during an audit performed under this act that resulted in or is likely to result in a material financial loss, the misuse or loss of a material public resource or substantial harm to a public sector institution or the public”.
In correspondence, Maluleke said: “The failure of the municipality to implement the municipality’s credit and debt collection policy for a number of years and to take reasonable steps to recover outstanding debt from consumers is likely to result in a material financial loss for the municipality.
“The failure of the accounting officer to take appropriate actions to address the material irregularity led to a decision by the [auditor-general’s] material irregularity committee, duly delegated, to approve reporting in the audit report of the municipality on the material irregularity with recommendations, as provided for in the PAA, read with the MI regulations on the steps the accounting officer should take to address the material irregularity within a stipulated period in the audit report.”
Buthelezi said he was aware of the grave nature of the issues raised by Maluleke, which were emphasised during a meeting with her on July 23.
He was committed to acting in the interest of the residents in the municipality.
“These residents bear the brunt of failed service delivery,” he said, adding the AG has requested a formal report from him by August 15.
On its website, the Umkhanyakude municipality states it is located in the far northern region of KwaZulu-Natal, encompassing 12,818km2, with a population totalling 625,846.
Home to the Isimangaliso Wetland Park along a coastline of more than 200km, the municipality extends from Mtubatuba (St Lucia) in the south to Kosi Bay in the north and to the Lubombo Mountains in the west.
Large areas of land are under communal tenure in the traditional authority areas under the jurisdiction of the Ingonyama Trust.
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