Residents Association lays charges against Endumeni municipality
Electricity theft of R40.74 million, representing 30% of the electricity purchased from Eskom, has compounded the financial conundrum.
Charges of theft and fraud have been laid against Endumeni Municipality following a condemning Auditor-General’s report that painted a bleak picture of the institution’s finances, with a loss of R99 million and current liabilities exceeding current assets by R105.44 million.
The charge was opened on Friday at Dundee police station by Willie Steenberg, vice-chairperson of the Endumeni Residents Association (ERA).
“The Auditor-General’s report exposes blatant disregard for the law and cites various acts of financial maladministration. We are in no doubt that public funds have been exploited,” he said.
In their statement handed to Dundee SAPS, the ERA quotes extensively from the Municipal Finance Management Act which they believe, as pointed out by the Auditor-General, puts in doubt Endumeni Municipality’s viability as a business.
The municipality is struggling with a collapse in revenue collection, leading to millions of owed funds that have not been collected.
Sinenhlanhla Sibiya of the Auditor-General’s office noted that nothing had been done to investigate fruitless, wasteful, unauthorised and irregular expenditure racked up in the previous financial year.
Endumeni takes on average 236 days to pay creditors and the amount owed to creditors was greater than available cash.
Irregular expenditure doubled from R10.5 million in 2019 to R21.7 million in 2022/23.
“We believe that there is enough evidence from the Auditor-General’s report for the police to investigate charges. We want the authorities to expose who has been behind this demise in our municipal finances, which are now seen to be in disarray,” Steenberg said.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has also expressed concern about the lack of accountability among municipal officials, highlighting their tendency to neglect responsibilities and operate as if they were above the law.
Cllr Naresh Gopie, chairperson of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee, emphasised the need for accountability and action to address these issues, suggesting that irresponsible officials should be held accountable for the daily failures observed within the municipality, the DA said.
The African National Congress (ANC) has also spoken out following the Auditor-General’s report, saying that because of the lack of plans and strategies, the employees are soon to face the most gruesome experience of their salaries not being paid in time or not being paid at all. Sources claim that the municipality is unable to meet the debt relief agreement reached with Eskom, which saw R75 million of the Eskom debt written off and needs to pay R2.1 million a month of the R44-million debt that needs to be paid.
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