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Mpumalanga’s municipal managers and politicians face the wrath of the provincial government after they incurred R13 billion in unwarranted expenditures for the 2015-2016 financial year.
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Refilwe Mtshweni, is already making an example of Thaba Chweu municipality in Mashishing (formerly Lydenburg).
Thaba Chweu is one of the worst performers, having incurred R358.6 million or 4% of the provincial balance of unauthorised, irregular or fruitless expenditure by June 2016.
In the 2015-2016 financial year – starting from April – the municipality had incurred R95.7 million or 3% of the provincial balance.
In a letter Mtshweni wrote to Thaba Chweu mayor, Mashego Sekgobela, she is demanding that he:
• Identify the names of officials responsible for prohibited expenditure;
• Update her on sanctions taken such as disciplinary action and criminal cases;
• Identify the amount of money that can be recovered from the implicated officials; and
• Suggest control measures to prevent unwanted expenditure.
“The detailed analysis of the 2015-2016 audit outcomes depicted that your municipality incurred prohibited or unwanted expenditure amounting to R358.6 million in the form of unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure,” Mtshweni said.
“The above accounts for 4% of the provincial balance of prohibited expenditure as at June 2016,” she added.
Mpumalanga’s Economic Freedom Fighters leader, Collen Sedibe, said the amount of prohibited expenditure in the province’s municipalities was a concern.
“We’ve raised this matter in the legislature and we will soon be laying criminal charges against all implicated officials in the 21 municipalities in line with the Municipal Finance Management Act,” Sedibe said.
In March this year, the EFF laid charges against six MECs as well as departmental and parastatal officials based on the Auditor-General’s 2015-2016 financial year report, which found irregular expenditure incurred to be about R4 billion.
