The Tshwane Municipal Public Accounts Committee (Mpac) has come under fire from the DA for calling off a monthly meeting on Friday to deliberate on forensic investigations reports and instead hosting a councillors’ Imbizo for the Gauteng Provincial Government.

According to the DA, the committee’s decision was concerning, especially given recent reports of a R777 million surge in water tanker expenditure and the committee’s ongoing delays in obtaining forensic investigation reports. 

The city has dismissed allegations of wasting R777m on water tanker operations, calling the claim “incorrect.” The actual expenditure for 2024/2025 was R441m, according to Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya.

Peter Sutton, DA’s Tshwane spokesperson for Mpac, said the invitation to the Imbizo was only officially circulated on Thursday, just a day before the scheduled committee meeting.

“The DA continues to be deeply concerned about the ongoing lack of respect and urgency for the Municipal Public Accounts Committee in the City of Tshwane and its constitutional oversight responsibility,” he said. 

He said the withholding or delay of forensic investigation reports remains the status quo in the city.

“Oversight cannot be sidelined or substituted for political events; the DA will write to the Speaker of Council to insist that this meeting be scheduled to take place as soon as possible. The residents of Tshwane deserve transparency, accountability, and urgent corrective action,” he said.

Mpac chairperson Godwin Ratikwane has pushed back against criticism, saying the hearing was merely postponed, not cancelled. 

He cited consultations with committee members who opted to attend the imbizo instead, as they would not be present for the hearing. 

“The amount of apologies were going to compromise the standing of the committee in terms of quorum and quality of the meeting if less councillors attend,” he said.

Ratikwane said the request to attend the imbizo came from councillors across party lines, including the DA itself. 

He accused the DA of engaging in “cheap politicking” by criticising the decision after being part of the request.

He justified the councillors’ attendance at the imbizo, citing an intergovernmental relations protocol that allows for adjustments to meeting schedules based on urgency and composition.

“⁠To the best of my knowledge the postponement was not in any way the conflict of interest and there was nothing political about it because the Imbizo which most of our councillor opted to attend was organised by a provincial government not any political organisation and also it follows the standard intergovernmental relations process,” he said.

He explained that the committee meets at least three times a quarter, with meetings streamed live to the public.

He added that the postponement would not significantly impact the public’s right to transparency and accountability.

He said the forensic investigation reports are a regular feature on their monthly agenda, but the meeting that was postponed was specifically intended to focus on service delivery status reports from various city departments.

Ratikwane said: “The presentations don’t even deal with forensic reports but rather its information sharing sessions from various departments so that the committee members can better understand any issue at hand better than just handling reports. Forensics are confidential and don’t depend on or rely on the presentations.”

The city recently reported that 1,220 forensic investigations into R14.4 billion in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure were completed in the 2024/2025 financial year. 

rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za

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