The DA has accused Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya of misleading the public by claiming 1,220 forensic investigations were completed in the 2024/25 financial year, a figure disputed by the party.

Moya made these remarks on Wednesday during a feedback session on the multiparty coalition administration’s performance since taking office last October. 

She mentioned that the 1,220 completed forensic investigations related to R14.4 billion in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure.

She said: “A total of 1,220 general forensic investigation cases were completed in the 2024/25 financial year. The results achieved by the city’s Group Audit and Risk Department are testament to the efforts made by officials and the championing of ethics and good governance by the multi-party coalition government.”

Moya noted that the R14.4 billion figure represents a significant improvement from the 2023/24 financial year when only R1.28bn in unauthorised expenditure was investigated. 

She highlighted that the team inherited a backlog of R13.06bn from the previous year.

The DA’s Peter Sutton, Tshwane spokesperson for the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (Mpac), has contradicted Moya’s statement, saying it’s “unfortunate” she continues to mislead the public about the city’s true state of affairs.

According to Sutton, the claim of 1,220 completed forensic investigations in the 2024/2025 financial year is “factually incorrect.”

He said a total of 1,074 forensic investigations were completed as at 30 June 2024.

Sutton said: “Since ActionSA orchestrated the removal of Brink, only 146 forensic investigations have been finalised between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025. This brings the total number of completed investigations to 1,220 – a figure achieved primarily under Brink’s administration. In fact, 88% of all investigations were completed before Mayor Moya’s term, yet she now appears to claim credit for this success.”

He expressed concern over the poor quality of forensic investigations under the multiparty coalition government, noting that the Mpac could not conclude most reports due to non-compliance with basic forensic standards, resulting in re-investigations.

“Mpac also failed to finalise the recovery and write-off of Section 32 reports by 30 June 2025, largely because of the substandard quality of investigations under Mayor Moya’s leadership,” he said.

Mpac chairperson Godwin Ratikwane recently expressed concerns about the quality of reports prepared by senior city officials.

Ratikwane cited a recent example of a report from the Energy and Electricity Business Unit, which was presented to the committee on August 22, 2025, and referred back for redrafting. However, when the report was resubmitted on September 19, 2025, it contained even more errors than the original.

“The poor quality of reports in the City of Tshwane has been flagged by the Auditor-General of South Africa in the audit findings for the City for the 2023/24 financial year audit report,” he said.

He noted that the Auditor-General had highlighted issues with reports on financial and service delivery matters and emphasised that the committee must provide guidance to senior management on proper report structuring.

Moya said the city was flagged as having one of the highest unauthorised, irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure (UIFW) balances in the country.

However, she said the city’s Group Audit and Risk Department successfully tackled the recorded UIFW in addition to further identifying R1.4bn that was undeclared. 

“An amount of R3 312,967,768,06 has been recommended for recovery. The department completed 146 investigations and 65 criminal referrals to law enforcement. There were 349 officials referred for disciplinary action, and five officials were arrested. There were 49 recorded control improvements,” she said.

rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za

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