AG report proves ‘power and money, not service’, takes priority in eThekhwini Metro

Weak internal controls, fictitious payments, staffers doing business with the municipality, and daily water losses and sewage spills are just some of the problems piling up at KwaZulu-Natal’s only metropolitan municipality, eThekhwini in Durban.

These were the Auditor-General’s findings presented to the council this week.

Local government expert at the University of Free State (UFS), Dr Ina Gouws, said it was clear coalition parties in charge at eThekhwini were more interested in power than in the delivery of proper services to residents.

“It’s about the money and the resources. The agenda is not service but power and access to the state purse.

“Also, voters need to wake up. They need to make up their minds and exercise their power properly if they want to see changes in their municipalities, many of which are on the brink of collapse.”

Legislation needed for coalitions

Gouws said a law was needed to hold coalitions accountable and make them honour their agreements.

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There is currently no legal footprint regarding coalition governments.

“Political parties have to understand how coalitions work and we need legislation for that. You need leadership that understands municipal output such as adequate services and what objectives are supposed to be.

“In the current climate, most political parties do not have that kind of leadership and that’s problematic. You have a situation where the system is completely obliterated by corruption and mismanagement,” she said.

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She added that simply changing political heads at the top won’t make a difference.

“It won’t work, especially if those people are not dynamic enough to understand that the professional aspects of the job need attention – that the correct people are critical to get the work done and government to get out of their way so they can do their jobs.”

R1.5 billion irregular expenditure

eThekhwini achieved an unqualified audit with findings in the previous financial year.

The AG found that most of the issues raised in previous audits were repeated in the 2021/2022 outcome.

The audit found that no steps were taken to ensure the metro implements and maintains an effective system of expenditure control, including procedures for the approval, authorisation and payment of funds and financial statements, as legally required.

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Furthermore, staffers who privately got business deals from the metro and those whose close family members were awarded tenders failed to disclose their interests.

“Reasonable steps were not taken to prevent irregular expenditure of R1.5 billion as required by the MFMA [Municipal Finance Management Act]. Most of the irregular expenditure was a result of non-compliance with supply chain regulations,” read the report.

Some suppliers were paid even though no products or services were delivered, while some goods and services with a value of R200 000 were procured without bidding processes.

eThekhwini further suffered an increase in water loss due to leaks and unmaintained infrastructure. It lost over 600 000 kiloliters per day, costing R1,9b for the financial year.

The Kingsburg, Isipingo and Mpumalanga wastewater treatment works do not have valid operating licences, while the northern wastewater treatment works were not maintained to prevent malfunctioning infrastructure.

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Regarding electricity, the AG found that 1 billion kilowatt hours were lost during transmission and distribution – caused by possible inadequate power lines and equipment – and through illegal connections.

The metro lost R1.36b.

No action against criminals

Despite completed independent investigations into maladministration and corruption, municipal bosses turned a blind eye and wouldn’t implement consequence management.

“Appropriate action was not taken against officials of the municipality where investigations proved financial misconduct, as required by section 171 of the MFMA and municipal regulation on financial
misconduct procedures and criminal proceedings.

“Lack of effective consequence management results in a lack of accountability,” the AG said.

Crumbled infrastructure

Once a top tourist destination in the country, the city is now a sore sight with a crumbling infrastructure, daily water shortages and sewer spill across the coastal metro.

Years of cadre deployment under the governing African National Congress (ANC) have led to a systematic plundering of resources and near-collapse of municipal services.

The ANC boasts KwaZulu-Natal as its biggest province in terms of membership, but following the 2021 local government elections, the party lost majority control of eThekhwini for the first time ever.

In total, the province has at least 20 hung councils where coalition agreements were formed. In eThekhwini, the ANC took control of the metro through a coalition with smaller parties.

The ANC’s Mxolisi Kaunda was elected eThekhwini mayor, and Abantu Batho Congress (ABC) leader Philani Mavundla his deputy.

Things have since soured between the two parties and Mavundla was subsequently removed from his position last year through an ANC-sponsored motion that was backed by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

Attempts to reconvene and elect another deputy mayor were fruitless after the council meeting collapsed.

As things stand, Kaunda’s future in the metro also hangs in the balance after the Active Coalition Citizen party (ACC) tabled a motion to remove him, citing service delivery failures.

The ACC has two seats in council.

The virtual council sitting on Tuesday postponed the no-confidence voting process amid worries that the ANC could inflate numbers and compromise the motion during the virtual meeting.

The speaker is expected to re-convene the sitting within seven days.

City ‘drowning in sewage’

Democratic Alliance (DA) eThekhwini caucus leader Thabani Mthethwa said his party will pursue charges against “criminals in the municipality”.

“The AG report indicates a collapse in service delivery, proving that the municipality is regressing under the leadership of the ANC and, in particular, Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.

“Many of the findings against the city are repeat findings involving the same transgressors, the same immoral ANC, and the same Mxolisi Kaunda, who should have been dismissed long ago. How long will the ANC continue to be an enabler of corruption and the collapse of the municipality?” he asked.

Zwakele Mncwango, ActionSA provincial leader and eThekhwini caucus head said the ANC had no reason to celebrate an unqualified opinion while the city “drowns and rots in sewerage”.

The party is proposing a coalition between itself, the EFF, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and other smaller parties.

“We believe that political parties in the council shouldn’t shy away from blaming the ANC for municipal failures and learn from their own mistakes of supporting the ANC, instead of supporting an alternative power-sharing arrangement.

“We wrote to councillors, excluding ANC, with that proposal because we want to save eThekhwini. We have 202 councillors. When you combine everything, we have 112 councillors from other parties excluding the ANC.

“So, we have enough numbers and stop fighting for positions. eThekhwini uses an executive system, not mayoral system. We need to blame ourselves as parties and not the ANC for the collapse of eThekhwini,” he said.

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