Lifestyle audits will be conducted on all senior managers of Steve Tshwete Local Municipality after the DA scored a victory with a motion during Tuesday’s ordinary council sitting.

The motion was the second last item on the agenda across a marathon sitting which ran from 09:00 on Tuesday morning to 17:00 in the afternoon.

The council supported the DA’s demand for lifestyle probes, which will include an audit on the finances of Municipal Manager Mandla Mnguni, the municipality’s executive directors, directors, acting directors and deputy directors.

Lifestyle audits will also be done on councillors, including the motion’s author, Morgan Bruiners.

The lifestyle audits will expose those who are allegedly using public funds for self-enrichment.

According to Bruiners, residents deserve transparency and accountability from those entrusted with public spending.

The once endowed municipality with over R700m in the bank struggles nowadays with delivering the most basic services due to cash constraints.

The authority is struggling to bounce back from shady financial dealings, which have resulted in the resignation of three top executives and forensic investigations.

Criminal complaints have also been opened in some of the cases, which include the almost R200m expenditure for the construction of the Mhluzi substation.

The municipality has a biannual loan repayment of over R60m, with the loan partly having been taken to construct the substation.

The municipality’s former Chief Finance Officer, Mothiba Mogofe, and Executive Director for Infrastructure, Reginah Makgata, both resigned after they were placed on cautionary suspension amid forensic investigations into financial mismanagement.

Mdu Masilela, who headed the offices for council and administrative support, also later resigned after nagging questions about the handling of the more than 600 Dennesig North stands resulted in the first draw for stands being cancelled due to a public outcry over corruption.

None have been formally charged with any crime.

“Noting the municipality’s financial crisis and poor contract management, the lifestyle audits are essential for upholding the principles of transparency, accountability, and good governance,” Bruiners said.

The managers that will be subjected to the audits are entrusted with the responsibility of managing public funds and making decisions that impact the lives of residents.

Residents say the municipality is failing them, and criticism is sure to mount when residents receive their July municipal accounts, with steep tariff increases, like a 13% electricity tariff increase, which the council also approved at Tuesday’s sitting.

The DA is adamant that the audits would identify additional individuals who have put a stop to the wheels of service delivery.

“The municipality is on a downward spiral,” Bruiners echoed residents’ sentiments.

The motion came on the back of an earlier item on the agenda, which was referred back for further investigation, that partly detailed an ANC councillor’s alleged involvement with extortion.
Bruiners expects more skeletons to tumble from the municipal money coffers.