 and the Auditor-General will embark on a week-long oversight visit to the Eastern Cape from next week Monday to Friday, targeting municipalities with persistent governance and financial failures.){kind=link}
By Thapelo Molefe
Parliament’s committees on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and the Auditor-General will embark on a week-long oversight visit to the Eastern Cape from next week Monday to Friday, targeting municipalities with persistent governance and financial failures.
“This will be the fourth province where the joint oversight delegation from Parliament will collaborate with the provincial legislature and engage with municipalities that have poor audit outcomes and governance challenges,” the committees said on Thursday.
The oversight comes after years of concern about service delivery failures in Eastern Cape municipalities. Many of the province’s municipalities, including two metros – Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City – have long been plagued by weak financial management, poor infrastructure maintenance, and political instability.
Municipalities such as Makana in Makhanda have faced legal battles over water supply failures, while Enoch Mgijima became infamous for the multimillion-rand failed Lesseyton Sports Field project.
The committees said their joint oversight strategy places a stronger emphasis on consequence management and accountability from provincial and municipal leadership following “continued regression in audit outcomes across several municipalities,” despite previous interventions.
The Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane, Cogta MEC Zolile Williams and Finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko will be required to present to Parliament’s delegation.
“These members of the provincial executive are expected to report on the state of municipalities in the province, including irregularities, consequence management, corrective steps, and future preventative measures,” the committees added.
Nineteen municipalities will appear before the delegation, including Makana, Sundays River Valley, and the two metros.
According to Parliament, municipalities must account for persistent challenges, including disclaimers and poor financial statements.
The committees also flagged environmental degradation linked to the neglect of landfill sites and wastewater treatment plants, warning that these failures “are causing pollution and affecting nearby communities”.
The committees also raised alarm over poor accountability.
“Another issue flagged was weak oversight and accountability due to limited consequence management for irregular, wasteful and unauthorised expenditure,” they said.
Nine municipalities face going-concern uncertainties, while the metros remain burdened by poor revenue collection and debt.
Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality will also have to explain its failure to act on findings from oversight bodies, including the Public Protector, who ruled against the Lesseyton Sports Field project.
The visit will conclude in Mthatha on Friday, where MPs will meet traditional leaders and conduct site visits in disaster-hit areas.
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