ANC, EFF slam Tshwane for missing financial statements submission to AG

The ANC and EFF in the Capital City are worried about the decision by the Tshwane metro to delay auditing and possibly hinder accountability for those who have actioned questionable 2022/2023 financial statements.

The parties suspect that the municipality is “cooking the books” for a positive audit outcome and have called on Gauteng Cogta.

Gauteng ANC secretary Thembinkosi Nciza said his party was concerned over the failure of the DA and ActionSA-led Tshwane to submit the financial statements for 2022/2023 to the Auditor General.

“This follows their failure to account for the R10-billion in irregular expenditure in the previous financial year.

“The DA-ActionSA-led administration is delaying the auditing process and hindering the implementation of accountability,” Ncisa said.

“This should show the residents of Tshwane that the multiparty is hell-bent on undermining the principles of both transparency and accountability as espoused in the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), in line with our vision of building a capable developmental state.”

Nciza said the multiparty exhibited unprecedented governance instability, with the finances of the municipality taking a knock, due to mismanagement.

“The non-submission of financial statements by the DA-ActionSA-led Tshwane is becoming a worrying phenomenon because last time they falsified their financial statements to the Auditor General (AG) and were subsequently downgraded to junk status.

“We believe that local government is the nerve centre of service delivery that should obsess itself with efforts to accelerate service delivery, good governance, and accountability.”

Gauteng EFF spokesperson Dumesani Baleni condemned the Tshwane coalition partners for their failure to submit financial statements to the AG even after an extension was granted.

“The EFF views the failure of the Moonshot Pact to submit financial statements in time as a contravention of the generally recognised accounting practices and MFMA, which requires municipalities to submit on time,” Baleni said.

“Tshwane, under the leadership of the DA, has continuously asked for a postponement for submission, citing the need to address the findings made by the AG in the year 21/22. However, this is just an attempt by the coalition of corruption in collaboration with the municipal officials to cook and configure the books to achieve a non-existent positive financial audit.”

Baleni said the failure to submit financial statements would affect residents and lead to National Treasury cutting grants.

It called on the provincial and national governments to intervene.

DA Tshwane caucus spokesperson Kwena Moloto said the party would fight any attempt to place Tshwane under administration.

Moloto said it was clear that the ANC and EFF coalition in conjunction with aligned labour unions in the capital were creating conditions for the municipality to be placed under administration, jeopardising service delivery and disrupting the lives of residents.

“Tshwane is for the first time in years under the governance of a stable coalition government diligently working to rectify the city’s financial situation after years of mismanagement.

“While it is true that the city and mayor have faced challenges, the current government is finally capable of overcoming these obstacles. In contrast to the previous lawlessness and irregularities in the capital, we now witness a desperate provincial leadership attempting to undermine effective governance.”

Last month Tshwane put off submitting its account records for financial and service delivery performance to the AG.

The 2022/2023 financial statements were meant to be submitted to the AG on August 31, however, Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the metro had postponed the submission at the recommendation of its own audit and performance committee (APC).

“The APC has recommended to the city to postpone the submission date of its annual financial statements and performance to the AG to afford it sufficient time to finalise other outstanding matters and ensure credible and sound financial statements.”

Bokaba said the metro would submit the financials within three months.

The AG has slammed the metro in the past for awarding contracts to service providers that were staff and family members as well as losing electricity worth more than R2-billion and R1-billion to administrative and technical errors such as negligence, theft, meter tampering, illegal connections and faulty meters.

Water worth R866-million was lost in the distribution network and R216-million to meter inaccuracies, consumption estimations, non-metering and unauthorised consumption.

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