The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Polokwane will closely monitor the municipality’s action against officials to recover fruitless and wasteful expenditure, as mandated by the Municipal Council’s resolution of 29 July 2025.
During this meeting, the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) tabled a report compelling action against implicated officials, with a progress report to be submitted to Council within 90 days.
MPAC recommended the recovery of fruitless and wasteful expenditure totalling R3 928 758.89 :
- R925 974.00 in penalties and interest due to late submission of Workman’s Compensation Fund annual returns.
- R804 314.40 from a consultant for standing time caused by late submission of drawings.
- R2 198 470.49 from a project manager due to late payment to a client
This marks a welcome shift from previous MPAC resolutions, where the DA opposed weak recommendations that failed to hold anyone to account.
The ANC Chief Whip, Adolph Rapetswa, openly suggested a “cost/benefit” analysis before pursuing recovery of funds — a thinly veiled attempt to shield officials from real accountability.
The MPAC report further recommended writing off irregular and unauthorised expenditure totalling R685 245 707:
- R176 829 870 paid to panel lawyers without an adequate rotation and allocation policy.
- R38 262 020 for appointing ABSA for fleet and equipment finance without a fair, transparent, and cost-effective SCM process.
- R52 271 101 in unspent conditional grants returned to National Treasury.
- R417 882 716 in non-cash, unbudgeted expenditure (Depreciation).
As the municipality did not incur any financial loss, the write off was approved but worryingly supply chain management process concerns persists as highlighted in prior forensic reports by Bowman Gilfillan including a prepayment of R16 680 253. 20 for 4 buses not received.
The DA is sceptical by the ANC-run municipality’s sudden efforts to hold officials to account.
Executive Mayor, John Mpe, has a dismal track record of consequence management ;while Mayor Mpe speaks of “corrective measures,” the reality is repetitive failure to act, allowing irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure to continue unchecked.
The people of Polokwane deserve a municipality that is well-managed, transparent, and accountable — not one where mismanagement is swept under the rug.