The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality is confident the National Treasury will not go through with its threat to withhold the R600m December equitable-share tranche — money that officials expect to be in the city’s coffers by the weekend.
Any withdrawal of the tranche would jeopardise the municipality’s ability to pay salaries.
“I wrote to the National Treasury in reply to its correspondence, and I do expect the money to be in by December 7 at the latest, if not before,” acting city manager Lonwabo Ngoqo said on Tuesday.
He was speaking after a special municipal public accounts committee (Mpac) meeting failed to start.
The meeting was meant to process reports on R24bn unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure (UIFWE).
However, some councillors had not received agendas before the meeting started.
The explanation submitted to the National Treasury to prevent the withholding of grants became a point of contention at the meeting, with frustrated councillors blaming officials for rendering the oversight committee ineffective.
ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom said the National Treasury had made it clear that if the city did not explain how it would deal with unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure (UIFWE) by December 1, the first tranche of the equitable share would be withheld.
“We are sitting here today on the 2nd, on a date that was not even on our official calendar.
“But we still agreed to meet because we want to comply with all the rules by getting our reports done,” he said.
“The concern now is who is going to pay the price if the National Treasury says we have not dealt sufficiently with our UIFWE?”
The Treasury had warned the city it might invoke Section 216(2) of the constitution if it failed to properly address UIFWE accumulated over more than 20 years, which is now among the highest in the country.
Among the conditions set for the city was the reduction of the UIFWE balance as of June 2024 by 70%.
The National Treasury deputy director-general for intergovernmental relations, Ogalaletseng Gaarekwe, informed Ngoqo in November about the threat to withhold the funds.
Mpac is tasked with processing the ballooning figure and making recommendations to the council.
The special sitting — convened to expedite progress on reducing the amount — follows another meeting where councillors refused to rubber-stamp the write-off of a staggering R350m in untraceable expenditure.
Tuesday’s meeting, however, was postponed to next week after councillors complained at length about being expected to work through 27 reports spanning 1,400 pages from an agenda delivered less than 24 hours before the sitting.
Chair Luxolo Namette said the delay in the delivery was because the city did not have a printing contract in place.
“My preliminary investigation revealed that the delay resulted from the absence of an active printing contract after a previous contract had lapsed — a situation I regard as wholly unacceptable.
“This is not the first time the municipality has found itself in this position, where meetings are postponed or critical service delivery processes are interrupted because a contract was allowed to lapse without the timely appointment of a new service provider,” he said.
Namette said he would write to Ngoqo to provide a report to Mpac on all month-to-month, three-month or temporary procurement arrangements currently in place, as well as details of all contracts that had lapsed without replacement.
The report must also provide reasons for all lapsed contracts, those noncompliant with supply chain management procedures and outline the consequence-management steps taken in line with Section 32 of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
“These lapses not only delay essential services — such as water, electricity supply, waste management and pothole repairs, but also create conditions that expose the municipality to manipulation, noncompliance and potential corruption,” he said.
DA councillor Werner Senekal said it was ludicrous that councillors had to read a 1,400-page agenda after receiving it on Monday.
“We must have adequate time to consider documents properly, to do the investigation, and then to make a recommendation, but unfortunately, the ball has been dropped.
“We understand the pressure from the National Treasury and the demands that we write this money off before they start to withhold the grants.
“But you cannot hold councillors responsible.
“We want to consider, but if you can’t keep to the basics by issuing the agenda on time, I do think that the plan clearly needs to shift to the officials,” he said.
EFF councillor Siyabulela Mosi, who did not have an agenda for the meeting, said there has been no improvement despite repeated complaints.
“I can tell you [chair], in terms of the officials, even if you were to check your house, there are some officials who are not here.
“It’s clear even from the body language, it tells you that there was no intention to make sure Mpac is moving.
“We spoke about reports and how they are supposed to be structured, but in the two months I have been here, departments are still not complying despite the money that was spent by the municipality on training,” he said.
Grootboom criticised how it was reported that the committee was not sitting.
“Mpac is sitting, Mpac is always ready to sit.
“But you deliver agendas late.
“And when it does come here, the items are very badly drafted.
“And when we send it back, then we don’t get that back again.
“This is an oversight committee that has executive authority to hold officials accountable.
“That means if you know of officials who don’t bring these items on time, recommend that council take disciplinary action against those who are responsible.
“That is the answer. If we don’t do that, the National Treasury said, ‘then you haven’t done your work.
“Who’s going to give an account in the townships when their money’s not coming in?
“They don’t call officials, they call the councillors that they voted for,” he said.
Corporate services executive director Nosipho Xhego, who was also standing in for Ngoqo at the meeting, said a report on the printing contract would be prepared.
The Herald
