by Cllr Conny Lentsoane – DA Councillor in Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality
| Date: 16 March 2020 |
| Release: Immediate |
| The Auditor General’s Financial Management report has revealed that the Ephraim Mogale Municipality has racked up more than R11 million in irregular expenditure.
The municipality incurred irregular expenditure of R7 762 542 in the current financial year as a result of the contravention of Supply Chain Management legislation. Further irregular expenditure incurred in previous years, amounting to R2 898 850, was also identified in the current year. What is equally shocking is that 81% of the irregular expenditure relating to the previous year was identified during the audit process and not detected by the municipality’s monitoring processes. The Auditor General has stated that the main causes of the lack of effective prevention and detection are inadequate skills and capacity in the Supply Chain Management unit. The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ephraim Mogale Municipality is seeking an urgent meeting with the Mayor, Molaudi Mothogwane, to get clarity regarding the candidates that were hired which clearly are not fulfilling their functions as required. The AG report also reveals that the municipality appointed employees who were not recommended for appointment by the panel and this leaves one wondering as to why these individuals were hired. Another concern which was raised is the incessant hiring of external consultants which cost taxpayers over R4.3 million. This money was paid to a consultant to prepare financial statements, which were found to contain misstatements. It is clear that the municipality does not have adequate skills in the finance unit resulting in dependence on external consultants for financial reporting functions, as confirmed by the AG. It is unacceptable that people within the Municipality are being paid to do this job but due to their inability, the Municipality has to rely on external companies and that taxpayers have to foot this bill. The amount of R12 472 193 was also written off by the Municipality as material losses, due to not being able to recover debt from debtors. In one instance, a close family member was awarded a tender amounting to R158 235 whilst two tenders amounting to R36 000 were given to two providers in which partners or associates of the municipal officials had an interest, without declaring the interest. To compound the matter, two contracts with the value of R620 985 were procured without inviting competitive bids, whilst nine quotations to the value of R150 083 were awarded to bidders that did not submit the necessary declarations. A construction contract to the value of R633 724 was also awarded to contractors who were not registered with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). It is clear that corruption, maladministration and lack of consequence management continues to cripple this municipality and severely hampers service delivery, which is desperately needed by the residents of Ephraim Mogale. The DA will ask Mayor Mothogwane to conduct a full forensic investigation into the appointment of inept staff as well as the lack of consequence management and prevalence of tender irregularities in order to hold implicated officials to account. |
| Media Enquiries |
| Cllr Conny Lentsoane
DA Councillor in Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality |