LIMPOPO – The salaries of those who work in financial divisions at municipalities amounted to R403 million in the 2018/19 financial year. Of this, R113 million relates to salaries of three municipalities which did not hand in their financial statements in time for auditing.
Yet, according to the AG, some R249 million was paid to consultants to assist, of which R127 million was paid to consultants of municipalities whose statements were not delivered by the cut-off date.The AG, Kimi Makwetu, said some officials have become complacent, not performing their work for which they were paid. The utilisation of consultants, he said, results in duplicating costs, the money of which could have been used for service delivery. Elias Motsoaledi Municipality, for instance, regressed to a qualified audit despite using consultants at R11 million.
Mopani district improved from an adverse to a qualified audit, but R34 million was spent on consultants.The AG further mentioned a general lack of controls to prevent losses and undesirable events from taking place, and the lack of supporting documentation. In the Collins Chabane Municipality a wrong service provider was paid R900 000, and the municipality could only recoup a portion of the amount, resulting in R674 625 fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
Vhembe paid an invoice of R1 112 748 twice, because it wasn’t stamped the first time as being paid.Unauthorised expenditure increased by R1,4 million the previous financial year to R1,6 million, irregular expenses from R677 million to R1,5 billion, and fruitless and wasteful expenditure increased from R65 million to R217 million in 2018/19. All unauthorised expenditure was due to overspending on approved budgets and non ?compliance with supply chain regulations to the R1,5 billion irregular expenditure. This will increase further, according to Makwetu, as the three municipalities not audited, disclosed an amount of R594 irregular expenditure. A total of R8 million’s tenders were awarded to councillors or other municipal employees, while Sekhukhune awarded a tender of R7 million to a driver in their employ who allegedly did not declare his employment at the municipality.
A billion rand was owed to Eskom and R2 billion to water boards in the province.In the meantime, the EFF has asked the Premier, Chupu Mathabatha and the MEC for Cooperative Governance, Basikop Makamu to do away with the use of consultants in all 27 of the province’s municipalities.”We are disappointed that most municipalities received qualified audit opinions because of their failure to implement the basics on financial reporting as noted by the AG,” said the EFF Provincial Chairperson, Jossey Buthane at the weekend.He said the party was saddened that unauthorised expenditure in Limpopo increased from R1,4 billion to R1,6 billion, irregular expenditure from R677 million to R1,5 billion while fruitless and wasteful expenditure increased from R65 million to R217 million.”
The province spent R249 million on consultants for financial reporting purposes. This happens despite the fact that municipalities have hired officials such as chief finance officers, asset officers, risk officers and others to perform such tasks.”He said the practice was raising questions as to whether state has the necessary capacity to perform government functions with precision and distinction, since consultants are relied on to improve performance.It was noteworthy that skills transfer to municipal officials was also not happening, he continued.
“We have on numerous occasions raised concern on the use of consultants by departments and municipalities to achieve positive audit outcomes because such arrangement was a waste of taxpayers’ money.”Buthane said they called on municipalities to develop their own internal capacity as money spent on consultants could have been directed to service delivery projects.
