The City of Tshwane’s multiparty coalition government has come under scathing criticism from the opposition parties following the tabling of the Auditor-General’s 2024/2025 financial year report in council, revealing that the municipality has racked up another qualified audit opinion.

The FF Plus has expressed concern over the audit report, stating the current administration has led to a collapse in financial management, service delivery, and accountability. 

Grandi Theunissen, FF Plus councillor, slammed the current administration, citing the audit report revealed incorrect asset valuation, inflating financial statements, and understating contingent liabilities by over R4.3 billion.

He further expressed concern that the report further revealed inadequate consequence management, allowing irregularities to go unpunished and leak internal controls and processes that undermine accountability.

He lamented the decline in basic service delivery, citing illegal electricity connections, cable theft and substation vandalism leaving residents without reliable power supply.

“In just nine months, the current coalition has undone all the progress made by the previous multiparty government, of which the Freedom Front Plus was part,” Theunissen said.

Another major concern, he said, is the R2 billion set aside for salary hikes and back payments “without first testing it in the Labour Court – as the previous coalition did”.

Cilliers Brink, DA Tshwane mayoral candidate said the report on the performance of the metro  confirmed “that the city has gone backward under the ANC-led coalition of Mayor Nasiphi Moya”. 

“Unauthorised, Irregular, and Fruitless and Wasteful (UIFW) expenditure – wasted money –  has increased by R5 billion to R23 billion in total, while the city has failed to act on the findings of completed investigative reports,” he said.

He further highlighted that the revenue collection has dropped from 93% to 85%, linking this decline to the city’s aggressive approach to cutting services to government departments over unpaid bills. 

“The collapse in revenue collection has contributed to a cash deficit of R4 billion, destroying the credibility of claims by Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya in 2025 that the city had a funded budget. 

“But the AG also raises concern over the salary increases awarded to staff, a decision which the city failed to take on review to the Labour Court despite clearly not being able to afford the R1,5 billion backdated portion of the increase,” Brink said.

 The DA is also concerned about water losses that have increased by 4.7% and now totals 39.1% of all water procured from Rand Water and other water boards while electricity losses rose by 2.3% to 21.3%.

Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya said: “The correct characterisation of the 2024/25 annual report is not one of a city in crisis, but of a city in recovery, rebuilding financial discipline, restoring governance credibility and steadily improving services to residents.”

She said the annual report does not claim perfection, but shows a municipality stabilising after a tough period.

“The city received a qualified audit outcome with two qualification areas, an improvement from six in the previous financial year and 13 the year before that. This reduction reflects measurable progress in financial controls, governance processes and oversight discipline,” she said.

She highlighted that over the period under review, residents experienced tangible improvements, including 2,282 new water connections and 2,297 serviced stands connected to water services.

According to her, nearly 9.9 km of water pipelines were replaced or upgraded and over 28 000 water meters replaced and that water leak response times improved from 14 days to nine days.

Moya said 499 households connected to mains electricity, with major substation upgrades completed in Soshanguve and Wapadrand.

At least 99.99% of formal areas received weekly waste collection, alongside the clearing of hundreds of illegal dumping sites, she said.

“The city has also moved decisively to restore accountability. During the year, 146 investigations into unauthorised and irregular expenditure were completed, backlogs were reduced, and recovery recommendations amounting to approximately R3.2 billion were submitted to council. This reflects a clear shift toward consequence management as a principle of governance,” Moya said.

She added that net assets increased by approximately R2.3 billion, liquidity improved, and progress was made in stabilising the city’s electricity account, reducing financial risk associated with bulk supply. 

“Employee related costs were contained within the budget, while expenditure controls were strengthened without undermining core services,” she said.

rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za

Source link