Gauteng metros face continued parliamentary scrutiny over finances and service delivery

By Thapelo Molefe

Parliament says Gauteng’s metropolitan municipalities remain under close scrutiny after oversight visits identified persistent governance, financial management and service delivery failures despite repeated interventions.

Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs chairperson Dr Zwelini Mkhize said Parliament had already conducted joint oversight visits to Gauteng municipalities, including the City of Johannesburg and the City of Ekurhuleni, as part of a national accountability programme.

“We’ve also just dealt with some of the municipalities from Gauteng, which is Ekurhuleni, the City of Johannesburg and so on,” Mkhize said, adding that further oversight visits would continue as Parliament monitored municipalities across the country.

His remarks came as Parliament defended the National Treasury’s decision to withhold July equitable share allocations from 69 municipalities that failed to meet financial governance requirements.

Although he did not identify the Gauteng municipalities affected by the funding decision, Mkhize said Parliament’s oversight had consistently exposed