Following a two-day Executive Council (Exco) Lekgotla, the spokesperson of the council, Thulasizwe Thomo, outlined the issues discussed. On Friday, February 27, the council deliberated on various issues, including the comprehensive assessment done during a media briefing at Nutting House Lodge.

This lekgotla was convened by Mpumalanga Premier Mandla Ndlovu. The first day focused on audit outcomes, national dialogue, the provincial budget, the state of local government, and a progress report on government’s response to provincial disasters.

Regarding audit outcomes, Thomo said that three departments have achieved clean audits for the 2024/25 financial year. These are the Office of the Premier; the Department of Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs; and the Provincial Treasury.

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The Nkomazi Special Economic Zone is also on the list of clean audit achievers. Thomo said the council noted that persistent control weaknesses and limited accountability, as highlighted by the Auditor-General’s office, are central to departments failing to achieve clean audits.

“Clean audit outcomes are essential ingredients of public trust in government’s use of public funds in line with financial prescripts. It was resolved that all institutions must implement all audit action plans for the realisation of this target,” he added.

When discussing the provincial budget and expenditure outcomes, Thomo said the council analysed the financial position of the provincial government over the past nine months to determine whether expenditure is in line with priorities and medium-term development plan targets.

“It was noted that the overall expenditure since the adjustment budget was tabled last year is 74.2%, and that both the Department of Health and the Department of Education have been allocated a lion’s share compared to other departments.” He said it was resolved that all efforts must be made to ensure that no department surrenders allocated funds by the end of the financial year, especially as the province is still recovering from recent disasters that had a detrimental impact on infrastructure.

On the matter of the state of local government, Thomo said the number of households with access to water has increased from 1 235 476 to 1 349 250, representing a significant increase compared to the 2022 census.

He said access to sanitation increased from 1 363 430 households in 2022 to 1 520 412. Additionally, the number of households with flush toilets increased from 814 220 to 1 026 972. “Access to electricity increased from 1 332 152 households in 2022 to 1 378 548 households, an increase of 46 396 households.”

Mpumalanga experienced severe flooding in December 2025 and January 2026, leading to 20 fatalities and extensive damages to infrastructure across municipalities. Thomo said all affected departments and municipalities have completed assessments for funding from the National Disaster Management Centre through the Provincial Disaster Management Centre.

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“To date, R49m has been allocated to the province to rehabilitate infrastructure. Municipalities have started with disaster recovery interventions in relation to roads, water and electricity,” he explained.

“The Nkomazi Local Municipality in particular has commenced with the restoration of water supply across villages within the jurisdiction of the municipality.”

Thomo said challenges identified included inadequate funding to implement infrastructure rehabilitation plans, and that most of the damaged infrastructure, in particular bridges or culverts, were not designed to be resilient to floods. The second day of the lekgotla focused on a gender-based violence and femicide implementation plan, state of the province address priorities, and progress analysis on the implementation of infrastructure projects.