Tshwane makes strides in corruption fight as city tackles R13bn irregular expenditure backlog

Tshwane Executive Mayor Nasiphi Moya announced progress in the city’s fight against corruption, revealing that investigations into R11.7 billion worth of unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure have been completed this financial year alone.

The mayor delivered the update during a progress briefing held at Tshwane House in Pretoria West on Thursday.

The city expects to conclude investigations into an additional R1 billion worth of irregular expenditure by the end of the 2024-2025 financial year, bringing the total reduction to R12.7 billion from an initial balance of R13 billion.

This represents a dramatic improvement from the previous financial year, when only R1.2 billion worth of investigations were completed.

“This has positioned the city to comply with commitments to the Agsa (Auditor General of South Africa) and National Treasury in respect of reducing historic UIFW balances,” Moya said.

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Tshwane accelerates disciplinary action

The intensified oversight has yielded concrete results in terms of accountability measures.

The number of cases where disciplinary action has been recommended against officials has increased from 126 in February to 349 currently.

Criminal prosecution referrals have risen from 39 to 44 cases, while over 900 cases have been referred to the financial disciplinary board, up from just 70 in February.

The city has dismissed 85 officials, an increase from 77 reported in February.

“These dismissals range from sexual harassment, rape, to fraud and corruption, bribery, theft and dereliction of duty,” Moya explained.

In a notable development, the mayor announced that a former section 79 chairperson will be referred to the Speaker’s Office for investigation regarding violations of procurement policies.

“They said a councillor issued a letter giving permission to a private company to make use of our outdoor advertising space, which is outside our procurement processes,” she said.

The long-awaited investigation into the Refilwe and Caledonian stadium projects has also concluded.

“I’m happy to announce the investigation was concluded, and there are five officials that have been issued with letters of intention to suspend,” Moya revealed.

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Company blacklisting initiative

As part of efforts to clean up the city’s service provider panel, the National Treasury is currently processing eight companies for blacklisting and restriction due to poor performance or contract contraventions.

Moya admitted that the city has faced challenges in serving these companies with formal notices, as many have vacated their registered addresses.

“Upon legal advice, the city will proceed with steps to have these companies blacklisted in absentia and restore [the] integrity of our panel of service providers,” Moya said.

To support ongoing governance improvements, the budget allocates R36 million to group audit and risk for forensic investigations in the fight against corruption.

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Court victory on salary disputes

The city achieved a significant legal victory when the Labour Court granted an exemption from implementing a 5.4% wage increase on 9 May 2025, while referring the matter of a 3.5% increase for the 2021-2022 financial year back to the South African Local Government Bargaining Council.

Following constructive meetings with the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samu) and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu), all parties agreed to participate in a mediation process under section 150 of the Labour Relations Act.

“All parties affirmed that mediation offers the best opportunity to reach a mutually beneficial outcome in a timely manner,” Moya said, while acknowledging that both unions expressed disappointment with the court’s ruling on the 5.4% increase and reserved the right to appeal.

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