Council suspends review of Covid-19 audit report

The City of Johannesburg Council brought together councillors from all over the City to discuss the recently leaked audit report on government expenditure during the Covid-19 lockdown.

he two-day-council sitting at Gallagher Estate saw councillors discuss the report which said that R80 million has been spent in the first two weeks of the national lockdown. On 7 October, the opposition parties requested that they receive a comprehensive report of the Covid-19 expenditure by the City during the lockdown. When the report was not handed over, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) walked out of council and demanded that the audited report or a draft report be brought for discussion by 12pm the next day (8 October).

In a statement, Johannesburg’s DA caucus leader Leah Knott said, “Despite a council resolution requiring detailed weekly reports, a PAIA [Promotion of Access to Information Act] application, direct questions to the mayor in council, and requests from all oversight committees, we still don’t know just how over R600 million of expenditure has been justified. Preliminary audit reports place the current irregular expenditure by the ANC administration at over R400 million, which is likely to rise.”

The second day was equally tumultuous, beginning with a three-hour period in which roll call was contested and the number of councillors from the African National Congress present in council was challenged by the opposition parties. The discussion of the reports continued while also halted for councillors to challenge each others decorum in council. By mid-day the requested reports were received by the councillors and council was suspended to afford them sufficient time to interrogate the reports and its finding for substantial discussion.

Council is expected to reconvene at a later date to discuss the reports. In an official statement City of Johannesburg Mayor Geoff Makhubo welcomed the decision to set a date for council to meet and table to review the Covid-19 internal audit report. He said, “As we stated before, the Mayoral Committee has received a presentation on the draft report and has give the administration a deadline of 8 October to respond to the issues raised and for the internal audit to resubmit a final report.”

Makhubo added that the City of Johannesburg will deal with the matters arising from the report swiftly and decisively. He concluded, “Where there is evidence of wrongdoing, we will act and do so relentlessly. We will display a shift from what the auditor-general termed a ‘lack of consequence management’ by the previous administration. The fraud and corruption that is alleged in the procurement of PPE’s must be vigorously condemned and our actions will be without fear or favour to those fingered.”

Details: joburg.org.za