The DA in iLembe has a number of concerns about the information revealed in the iLembe district municipality’s (IDM) annual report for 2023/24.

Although the water loss rate of 39% has dipped below the national norm of 40%, the losses are still unacceptable. Water losses reached R110-million, which was R5-million more year-on-year.

Reservoir overflows and delayed repairs of reported leaks and illegal connections are major concerns. A structured intervention, evaluation and monitoring system is urgently needed as is a quicker turnaround strategy to repair leaks.

More needs to be done to spend grants and subsidies received by the municipality, which again underspent on its capital budget. This underspending directly prevents communities from receiving essential services.

The infrastructure repairs and maintenance allocation of 4-5% is shocking, considering the guideline is 8% and 40% for existing infrastructure upgrades. A provision of at least 50% should be made to ensure healthy infrastructure going forward.

High irregular expenditure amounts are still a concern and the resulting losses were not recovered from liable persons. Appropriate actions must be taken against officials in cases of financial misconduct. An almost non-existent internal audit unit also has to be strengthened to maintain controls and oversight.

Aggressive collection campaigns must be instituted to recover outstanding debt, which has reached disaster levels in iLembe. The debtor amount jumped from R834-million to R1.106-billion, with R908-million considered doubtful. The collection rate declined from 58% to 45% in the same time period.

Finally, we have called for the immediate suspension of senior managers at the IDM who did not disclose critical information during their appointment, as revealed in findings in the auditor general’s report. Furthermore, the municipal manager failed to verify their credentials. A thorough investigation is necessary, encompassing all senior appointments.

Reportback shortened – Ed.

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