Despite Msunduzi Local Municipality’s denial that it failed to meet the Auditor-General’s deadline for submission of financial statements, the intervention team assigned by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli to probe the collapse of governance in the embattled municipality wants clarity.

The team, which is known as the Premier’s Working Group (PMWG), is under the stewardship of former Finance MEC Ravi Pillay. The alleged breach by the municipality was raised by Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) in a statement issued on Tuesday, where it called for urgent action and consequence management against the nine municipalities for the breach. Msunduzi was among the list released by the MKP.

Reacting to the news, Pillay said despite the municipality disputing the MKP’s statement, he will, however, meet the municipality and engage further on the matter.

“The PMWG will engage the municipality further and the matter will find expression in the financial sustainability work stream that will be set up soon,” said Pillay

The municipality in Pietermaritzburg is currently under the spotlight of the provincial government which last month was forced to intervene and appointed a seven-member team led by the former Finance MEC Ravi Pillay to fix governance issues in the municipality.

The municipality’s spokesperson, Nontobeko Mkhize, denied that the municipality had outstanding financial statements, saying the delays were caused by an objection which was lodged by the municipality that has since been resolved, resulting in the tabling of the financial audit report in the council.

The PMWG, similar to the eThekwini Presidential Group, was appointed in February as part of the new Section 154 intervention measures following a report by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi in October last year which said the municipality’s governance was deteriorating. The group is expected to present its first report on Friday.

The municipality had been under administration for more than five years and to the surprise of the many people, including the opposition parties, it was lifted out of administration in April last year.

In a statement the MKP called on both Cogta and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to take decisive decisions against the nine municipalities which the party said failed to submit their financial statements for auditing. 

In the statement, the party  said it was reacting to the Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke whom the party said expressed concerns over the nine municipalities’ failure to submit the outstanding annual financial statements for the 2023/24 audit cycle.

The party said the delay by authorities in attending to this breach has resulted in an increase in poor service delivery in the poorest of communities.

willem.phungula@inl.co.za

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