The Tshwane metro has fired 67 officials in a sweeping crackdown on disastrous governance, reflecting the broader decay plaguing local government across the country.
The move, announced by mayor Nasiphi Moya, comes courtesy of the consequence management committee aimed at providing oversight over financial, legal and human resources matters.
“We remain committed to ensuring that Tshwane is governed with integrity and I look forward to updating residents on our continued progress in strengthening accountability, improving financial governance and ensuring that every public servant upholds the highest ethical standards,” Moya said.
She announced the completion of 180 forensic investigations, which led to 129 disciplinary cases and 39 criminal referrals.
Tshwane’s efforts to instil accountability could signal a shift towards enhanced governance and fiscal responsibility within SA’s municipalities. It comes at the time when Operation Vulindlela, a joint initiative of the Treasury and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office to revive the economy through reforms, sets its sights on local government.
Local government is plagued with malfeasance and fiscal challenges that see billions of rand wasted on corruption and unauthorised expenditure each year, blighting citizens and businesses alike.
“The R3.6bn in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure was investigated in quarter two with findings now being prosecuted by the municipal public accounts committee for further action,” Moya said.
For too long, weak consequence management has allowed financial mismanagement, irregular spending and administrative failures to persist without repercussions.
— Mayor Nasiphi Moya
“A total of 67 officials have been dismissed following due disciplinary processes, while 31 officials have received final written warnings. Seventy cases have been referred to the financial disciplinary board — the first time such referrals have been made — further strengthening financial oversight mechanisms,” she said.
Moya, an ActionSA councillor, said the consequence management committee’s objective was to restore accountability, tackle corruption and improve service delivery for Tshwane residents.
“For too long, weak consequence management has allowed financial mismanagement, irregular spending and administrative failures to persist without repercussions. This has been one of the key factors behind the stagnation in the city’s audit outcomes, as highlighted by the auditor-general of SA,” she said.
The auditor-general SA’s report for the 2023/24 financial year showed the city achieved a qualified audit opinion. It incurred R2.3bn in irregular expenditure, up from R1.9bn in the previous financial year. Fruitless and wasteful expenditure was largely unchanged at R347m, while unauthorised expenditure increased from R423m to R2.1bn.
In 2021/22, the Tshwane metro received an adverse audit opinion. In 2022/23 it registered a qualified audit opinion and racked up irregular expenditure of R10bn, though its audit opinion improved to a qualified one.
The investigations form part of Moya’s 100-day action plan prioritising clean governance, improved financial oversight and the professionalisation of public service.
To embed a culture of accountability and excellence and ensure proper consequence management, Moya said the metro was taking firm action in several areas including changing the culture of governance by addressing the root causes of nonperformance and clearing the backlog of investigations “including over 1,000 forensic reports inherited by my administration, many of which had not been acted upon”.
“We are reducing wasteful expenditure on precautionary suspensions, as the city is currently spending R30m cumulatively on prolonged suspensions due to delays in disciplinary processes. This administration will not tolerate corruption, financial mismanagement or inefficiency,” Moya said.
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