KwaZulu-Natal’s Umzumbe Municipality has been functioning without a municipal manager and chief financial officer for some time.

This was one of the Auditor-General of South Africa’s (AGSA) findings in the audit outcomes for the 2023/24 financial year that ended on June 30, 2024.

The AGSA stated in its report that vacancies in key positions disrupted appropriate segregation of duties and hindered adequate review by various levels of staff, which contributed to the submission of financial statements that were not credible or reliable.

The AGSA also found that

• Weak internal controls during the year resulted in numerous errors and insufficient supporting evidence across transactions and balances in the financial statements.

• Failure to implement audit recommendations, particularly in areas of financial management and compliance with legislation.

• Lack of effective consequence management, which has limited accountability for repeated misstatements and control deficiencies.

The AGSA recommended that the municipality investigate all instances of unauthorised and irregular expenditure and take appropriate disciplinary or legal action based on the outcomes.

The municipality was also advised to appoint a skilled and experienced municipal manager.

“Stability in leadership is essential to restore accountability, improve segregation of duties, and enable credible financial reporting and oversight,” the AGSA stated.

In January 2025, Shaka Cele was appointed as municipal manager. In response to the audit report, which highlighted 34 audit findings, Cele said the municipality developed a comprehensive audit action plan along with an Audit Steering Committee that convenes regularly to deliberate on progress made, identify any challenges, and ensure accountability.  

In May 2025, the municipality requested the A-G to conduct a review of the status report. During the same period, the provincial Treasury conducted an on-site visit to assess the state of readiness within the Supply Chain Management (SCM) unit.

“Both stakeholders have since issued their reports, and the municipality is currently implementing the recommendations provided,” Cele said. 

On Wednesday, the KZN Legislature’s Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Portfolio Committee addressed concerns about weaknesses in financial controls, compliance, and governance raised by the A-G when they visited the municipality.

Marlaine Nair, Cogta Portfolio Committee chairperson, said the legislature’s role was to seek clear answers and to secure concrete commitments from the municipality leadership and the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance.

The legislature holds municipalities accountable for their adverse audit outcomes, and financial management practices are part of the legislature’s oversight function. 

“Members of the portfolio committee have raised concerns that the municipality has again received an adverse audit opinion from the auditor. Despite various recommendations made in previous years, failures remain unaddressed. There is also continued disregard for consequence management, which has allowed irregular and fruitless expenditure to grow without accountability,” Nair said. 

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za

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