“According to the auditor-general’s report, the J.B. Marks municipality in Potchefstroom had regular, fruitless, wasteful and unauthorised expenditure over the past 10 years that accumulated to a projected amount of R4,236 billion by the end of February this year,” Hans-Jurie Moolman, the DA caucus leader, said.

For the past five years, the national treasury grants to the municipality amounted to R1,643 billion. The current outstanding revenue for the end of this financial year is projected at R869 million, which means J.B. Marks has less than a billion to run the two towns of Potchefstroom and Ventersdorp.

According to Moolman, the municipality’s biggest problem is unauthorised, irregular and fruitless (UIF) expenditure, which explains the total collapse in service delivery. “You have to be blind not to see the complete failure in this area.”

He says the failure to maintain and repair the water and sewerage systems has caused millions of rands in technical losses. It has also resulted in sewage overflowing in residential areas – a direct violation of the fundamental right to a healthy environment.

The failure to repair the roads exposes the residents to damage to property and injury. There has also been a failure to fix street lights.

The failure to collect waste and maintain the waste facilities has also violated the residents’ right to a healthy environment. The municipality has failed to provide housing, rather choosing to allow councillors to initiate the unlawful and illegal occupation of land by causing the poorest of the poor community members to settle on land without any services, financial means or intention to provide services any time soon. Other communities in our municipal area have had to wait for ten years or more to get services to their homes.

There has been a failure to clean parks and living spaces around residential areas. In this respect, our city is probably in the worst state it has ever been,” he said. Moolman says the staggering UIF expenditure has accumulated over the years, simply because no action was taken against those responsible for the mismanagement of money.

“Section 32 of the Municipal Finance Management Act obliges a municipal council to hold individuals liable for irregular expenditure. There is no accountability in the municipality,” he said.

On Monday, the DA refused to attend a special council meeting because the speaker declined to put service delivery items on the agenda. According to Moolman, council meetings are not held regularly. While they should be scheduled every month, the last council meeting took place in December last year. “The speaker only schedules special council meetings to finalise specific items on the agenda that must be dealt with urgently. This doesn’t leave room to address other urgent service delivery matters,” Moolman said.

The walkout meant that the council couldn’t approve the adjustment budget at the special council meeting on Monday (26 February) because a quorum couldn’t be reached. “The DA refuses to be the rubber stamp of a corrupt administration. We have reached our limit concerning the abuse of our presence in council meetings to rubberstamp poorly drafted, incomplete reports and late submissions,” said Santi Britz, a DA councillor.

On Wednesday (3 March), the DA attended the J.B. Marks council meeting, but the financial reports they had requested in terms of legislation were not submitted. According to Moolman, the adjustment budget report did not comply with the council report requirements and didn’t include the previous council decision on the budget. “It made it impossible to evaluate the adjustments’ implications for the current budget. The DA pointed out that the information necessary to approve the budget was not available.

“We want the national and provincial government to note that there is no democracy in J.B. Marks; a group of people decides what happens in this municipality. There is no council meeting where collective leaders make decisions.

We are now going to put forward memorandums to the portfolio committees, parliament, and provincial legislature to have public hearings in J.B. Marks, so the public can attest to what is happening here.” Our officials are intimidated and afraid of losing their jobs when asked to disclose financial statements.

In the end, the adjustment budget was not considered because the documents were outstanding. The item will probably serve before a future council meeting,” Moolman said. The speaker could not be reached for comment