LIMPOPO – THE Mutale Municipality has returned an estimated R31 million to the national treasury which was underspent during the last financial year.
This was according to a DA councillor in Mutale, Joseph Mariba, who said according to the Auditor-General’s (AG) report released last year, the municipality underspent R1 million of their national lottery grant, R24 million of their disaster management grant and R6,6 million of their operational and maintenance grant.
The municipality had also failed to compile their financial reports for auditing and paid more than R890 000 to independent consultants to compile the report, Mariba said.
Mariba said the municipality was also operating without a corporate director for services for the past 11 months. He said it was clear that the municipality had not achieved the objectives of providing services to the community and therefore urgent intervention was needed by cooperative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs (Coghsta) MEC, Makoma Makhurupetje.
“We urge the MEC to implement the AG’s recommendations to hold officials accountable for poor performance and transgressions of legislation as well as appointing competent and skilled officials in the finance unit. We also need her to establish a forensic audit to probe the financial affairs of the municipality,” Mariba said.
Mutale Municipality spokesperson, Thiathu Ravhura, said municipal records showed that only R5 million was under-spent. He said the reason for this was that the national treasury requested them to hold back on a paving project in Masisi village until the next financial year.
Coghsta spokesperson, Motupa Selomo, said the department’s task was to monitor, evaluate and give support to municipalities.
He said Coghsta was spearheading a Back-to-Basics campaign to ensure service delivery went to the people.
“Where there is no water, the municipality must provide water and where there are no access roads, the municipality should make sure that they are building roads for the benefit of the people. We will monitor the Mutale Municipality’s financial matters,” Motupa said.
