Serious governance and financial management concerns have emerged at the KwaDukuza Municipality following the latest Auditor-General (AG) report.

Opposition parties and the Dolphin Coast Residents & Ratepayers Association (Docrra) are demanding accountability over procurement mismanagement, project delays and escalating electricity losses.

AG senior manager Martin Coates highlighted delays in major infrastructure projects, including the Hulett Bridge (delayed by 235 days) and the KwamFanomdala Bridge (delayed by a year with 14 extensions and a cost increase of over R1-million).

Penalties of R1.1-million for contractor delays were not recovered, while poor quality control resulted in structural defects at Hulett Bridge. The ineffective inspection process led to an overpayment of R487 870 for the KwamFanomdala Bridge.

Coates stressed the need for decisive leadership to rectify project management weaknesses, urging consequence management against employees and consultants who failed to perform. He called for strict real-time quality inspection protocols to prevent delays and cost overruns.

Opposition leaders demanded urgent intervention.

DA caucus leader Privi Makhan called for blacklisting of errant contractors and enforcing consequence management.

ActionSA caucus leader Nel Sewraj criticised the municipality’s failure to hold officials and contractors accountable, citing how companies that violated procurement processes in 2023 continued to receive municipal contracts.

Despite a clean audit and reduction in wasteful expenditure from R65-million to R3-million in 2023/24, Docrra’s Stephanie Walker stressed that financial mismanagement persists. She questioned under-expenditure on capital projects, particularly in the electricity department, which struggles with vacancies and insufficient maintenance funding.

Walker also flagged contract mismanagement, citing 150 tender appeals last year and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into irregularities in three municipal tenders from 2018 and 2019.

Service delivery has declined, with only 62% of basic infrastructure and 63% of flood relief targets met in 2023/24.

Public perception of good governance has dropped by 14% in a year.

“Residents must mobilise and demand accountability,” Walker urged.

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