DA concerned that municipality might forfeit R29 million meant for services
Maile added, "The municipality has failed to appoint contractors utilising these reprioritised MIG funds. It is highly likely that the R29 million will not be rolled over to the 2021/22 financial year and will have to be surrendered to the National Treasury."
SEKHUKHUNE – The DA in Limpopo fears the Sekhukhune District Municipality (SDM) might forfeit R29 million which it failed to spend on providing services. The money was meant to assist in fighting Covid-19.
Speaking to Steelburger/Lydenburg News, Cllr Solomon Maila said this amount was reprioritised from the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) allocated to the municipality for the 2020/21 financial year. It was meant to be used for infrastructure and water projects in the water-scarce district.
“This allocated amount was supposed to have been spent before the end of June 2021, but has remained virtually untouched because of the sheer incompetence of the administrative and political leadership in the municipality. A business plan or technical report indicating the basis on which the R29 million was to be spent was submitted for consideration and approval to the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) in May 2020. The business plan, which gave an outline of specific infrastructure and water projects, was then approved by DWS and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs,” alleged Maila. He said the municipality then irregularly appointed eight contractors around June 2020. “The DA brought huge pressure to bear on the municipality to stop the irregular appointments of the contractors. This resulted in the suspension of three senior officials of the municipality on September 15, 2020. “No further disciplinary action was taken against the three officials who included the manager: Project Management Unit responsible for MIG projects. Subsequently the suspensions were lifted and the officials returned to the municipality, but they have not been allowed to return to the responsibilities for which they were employed.
“The municipality’s failures have ultimately resulted in the R29 million not being spent and the municipality is now trying to apply for this money to be rolled over to the 2021/22 financial year. This is contrary to the provisions of the National Treasury’s Municipal Finance Management Act Circular 108.”
According to Maila, the criteria for the rollover of conditional grant funds requires that the unspent funds must be allocated to identifiable projects and that there must be proof that contractors or service providers were appointed for the delivery of the projects before March 31, 2021. Maile added, “The municipality has failed to appoint contractors utilising these reprioritised MIG funds. It is highly likely that the R29 million will not be rolled over to the 2021/22 financial year and will have to be surrendered to the National Treasury.”
In response to the allegations, SDM’s communications officer, Moloko Moloto, confirmed that the R29 million had been earmarked for the water projects which are part of the Covid-19 emergency intervention.
“The implementation of the projects was indeed meant to take place during the 2020/21 financial year that ended in June 2021. However, this was delayed by the litigation process that was initiated by the district municipality to interdict and invalidate the irregular appointment letters that were issued to service providers by our own officials, in contravention of applicable legislation and supply chain management policy.” He added, “It is worth pointing out that the district municipality successfully set aside the irregular appointment letters in question, and that the allocated R29 million funding has not been lost or spent wrongly.
“Through the intergovernmental relations channels, the SDM is now in talks with the relevant government departments to apply for a rollover of the funding to the current financial year that started in July 2021”. Moloto seemed optimistic it will not forfeit the money.
“The SDM is hopeful and confident that it will not forfeit this funding to the National Treasury. The municipality wants to assure the people that the projects in question will be implemented during the current financial year. Despite this temporary setback, the district municipality has managed to spend 99% of its Municipal Infrastructure Grant for the financial year under review – a feat that has been elusive for many years.”
