The auditor-general, Terence Nombembe, has said on numerous occasions that there was a lack of committed leadership in local government, which has resulted in a sharp deterioration in financial management.
Nombembe uses euphemisms describing the poor financial controls displayed by metros. He actually means these departments are in the slippery hands of incompetents, who consider the easy access to funds as their prerogative.
Ekurhuleni did not secure a clean audit. It is blindingly obvious where the latter faltered – purchasing and tender contracting functions. This is where huge amounts are “allocated” to pals and even family members.
Keep the processes opaque and the euphemism “wasteful expenditure” appears in the audit report.
No one is going to be reprimanded (or heaven forbid, dismissed). On this latter point, we don’t have a chief financial officer – how convenient! (Similar to not having a chief of the NPA.)
So who do we blame? This has been going on for years (with the same excuse every year – we have activated more controls and everything will be fine next year).
Drastic measures are needed.
Firstly, heads must be chopped.
If the mayor’s head is on the chopping block, he will ensure there are substantial improvements.
Secondly, transparency – do like the Cape Town metro and open up the tender process to public scrutiny.
And thirdly, we must vote these incompetents out of office. They’ve thieved enough of our money!
