ELM Council approves new CFO
The Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) this week took a major leap forward towards greater stability in its turbulent financial management when its council approved the permanent appointment of a CFO months after the predecessor was fired.
The new CFO is Mpfareleni Maseanoka, previously acting for months and part of a tightly-knit turn-around team comprising Executive Mayor Sipho Radebe, Finance MMC Hassan Mako and Municipal Manager April Ntuli.
Maseanoka inherited a chaotic financial situation from previous incumbent Andile Dyakala when appointed as acting CFO last year, and who was finally fired late in 2023.
Maseanoka’s appointment comes in the midst of revolutionary change in the management of municipal infrastructure in electricity, water and sanitation as well as more stringent financial management efforts in both municipal sectors.
On electricity, Maseanoka has been closely dealing with giving effect to an agency agreement with Eskom in which consumers pay the bulk utility provider direct and will see Eskom manage electricity infrastructure, paying ELM its fair share.
The agreement is said to be at an advanced stage of development, possibly reaching fruition early in March.
On water and sanitation, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) partnership agreement has also reportedly been reached with Rand Water to take over ELM’s Metsi-a-Lekoa department for three years and is also a key component of ELM’s recovery srategy.
ELM still owes Rand Water up to R1 billion.
Another ground-breaking development Maseanoka has been closely involved with as acting CFO is negotiating and implementing the National Treasury debt relief programme on ELM’s mammoth almost-R7 billion debt to Eskom.
These strategic management developments with which Maseanoka has been intimately involved, are expected to dramatically improve the financial and infrastructure management prospects of ELM and break a seemingly-endless cycle of lawfare with Eskom and Rand Water.
The result of that hugely-expensive lawfare has been devastating on ELM service delivery with both Eskom and Rand Water cumulatively attaching billions and paralysing municipal operations and revenue generation efforts.
However, a permanent CFO at ELM is expected to give major impetus to greater revenue-generation efforts, including expanding the municipality’s keystone smart meter programme which is mandatory for the National Treasury’s debt relief programme.
