JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng — Gauteng is escalating its crackdown on local government financial mismanagement, with provincial authorities pushing for municipal managers to face personal financial liability for public funds lost through negligence. Dr Andiswa Mosai, Chairperson of the Finance Portfolio Committee in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, spearheaded the call for the Auditor-General to enforce stricter consequence management following the province’s regressing 2024/2025 Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) audit outcomes.
The Finance Portfolio Committee, which is tasked with scrutinizing provincial budgets and monitoring financial risks such as accruals, underspending, and overspending, recently convened to dissect these recurring audit failures. To identify the root causes of the financial decay, the committee summoned the provincial treasury, the Auditor-General (AG), and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) to detail the support frameworks currently being provided to local governments.
During the hearings, specific municipal audit results were laid bare. Midvaal and the West Rand District Municipality secured unqualified audits without findings, exempting them from the presentation. Conversely, Merafong City received a qualified audit with findings. Several other local and district municipalities, including a major metropolitan municipality, logged unqualified audits that still carried adverse findings. Confirming the broader trend, the MEC for Finance noted a distinct provincial regression in overall audit outcomes for the 2024/2025 period.
Dr Mosai emphasized that the core issue is not merely the presence of audit findings, but the systemic failure to address their root causes. Municipalities are frequently applying superficial fixes rather than implementing comprehensive audit action plans. The lack of robust consequence management and weak follow-through by municipal oversight committees have allowed these structural and systemic weaknesses to persist.
Despite the overall regression, the committee noted isolated signs of improvement. Emfuleni (referenced in the audio transcript as “Infini” or “Mueni”) has reportedly reduced its unauthorized, irregular, fruitless, and wasteful (UIFW) expenditure. Additionally, both Rand West and Merafong City have successfully established funded budgets. However, Dr Mosai stressed that future interventions from COGTA and the treasury must abandon “blanket approaches” in favor of highly specific, targeted support. This shift is critical as the AG prepares to release the 2025/2026 audit findings this September, with municipalities indicating that visible improvements will be evident by then.
The committee also recognized the severe socio-economic headwinds complicating municipal financial health. High unemployment rates and the closure of local businesses—frequently driven by the municipality’s failure to provide basic services—create a vicious catch-22 that stifles revenue collection. Dr Mosai expressed optimism that the ongoing review of the national White Paper will help recalibrate national treasury allocations and ultimately drive better service delivery to reverse this trend.
On the critical issue of personal accountability, Dr Mosai clarified that municipal financial disciplinary boards already exist but remain severely underutilized. The provincial treasury is now aggressively advocating for their activation to ensure that financial negligence carries real, personal consequences for officials who act recklessly with public money.
To eliminate fragmented efforts, the committee demanded tighter, effective coordination between COGTA, the provincial treasury, the Auditor-General, and the legislature to avoid duplication and ensure all interventions are strictly aligned. Furthermore, Dr Mosai assured that the committee’s oversight will not pause for upcoming local government elections. Incoming councils will be held strictly accountable to the follow-through commitments made by their predecessors, ensuring that financial governance becomes a non-negotiable priority across Gauteng.
