CDM officials respond at MPAC public hearing

Capricorn District Municipality (CDM) heads of department were called to a public hearing of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) last Wednesday to clarify a number of matters arising from the municipality’s draft annual report for the 2017/18 financial year, that included payments of more than
R122 000 to former employees.
The MPAC sought clarification about an amount of R122 324,10 that was paid to seven former employees after they have left the service of the municipality, with amounts of R54 055,14 and R39 967,85 being the highest. The MPAC wanted to know why did the municipality fail to detect the payments, what steps were taken to recover the money and which corrective measures were implemented to avoid a recurrence. Municipal Manager Nokuthula Mazibuko explained that the payment was as a result of error in the implemantation of the Phoenix System when data was transferred from the remote server to the municipality’s onsite server. “Recovery letters were directed to the former employees and arrangements were made to have the money repaid,” Mazibuko stated and added that the municipality is dealing with deficiencies presented by the system and in particular those that compromised controls around appointments and terminations and that the municipality changed the payroll and human resources module to Payday, a system that was used by the municipality before.
The MPAC raised its concern about a 43% water loss amounting to R25 625 192 although it was slightly lower than the 46% loss recorded for the 2016/17 financial year. Mazibuko replied that CDM purchases water from Lepelle Northern Water and that it was detected that some meters at reservoirs were not connected to the outlets but to the inlets. “If the supply is turned off too late and the reservoirs overflow, CDM is paying for the water that was not used but spilled,” Mazibuko said and confirmed that negotiations between the two parties to resolve the issue are ongoing. Mazibuko further attributed the water losses to illegal connections in the increasing number of informal settlements in CDM’s area of supply and added that not all usage in informal areas are metered and that the consumption is therefore regarded as part of the water losses.
The full draft report is available on the municipality’s website, www.cdm.org.za.

Story and photo: BARRY VILJOEN
>>barryv.observer@gmail.com