The FF Plus issued a press release last week about receiving documented, forensic audit reports about the Lekwa Municipality’s deficit amounting to R1-billion.
According to the party, it indicates, among other things, that irregular, fruitless, wasteful and unauthorised expenditure took place since 2012.
The statement said that another cause for concern is the re-deployment of staff despite various violations of the Municipal Financial Management Act and other transgressions.
It pointed out that it was equally alarming that the outcomes of the report are dated 2018.
However, the Lekwa council received this forensic report for discussion only last week despite knowing that there were serious financial mismanagement problems.
The Standerton Advertiser reported on the Section-106 investigative report in the past and in its issue of 17 July.
Section 106 of the Municipal Systems Act states that if an MEC has reason to believe that a municipality in the province cannot or does not fulfil a statutory obligation binding on that municipality, or that maladministration, fraud, corruption or any other serious malpractice has occurred, or is occurring in a municipality in a province, the MEC must:
• by written notice to the municipality, request the municipal council or municipal manager to provide the MEC with information required in the notice; or
• if the MEC considers it necessary, designate a person or persons to investigate the matter.
According to the FF, the provincial government should have acted and already taken drastic steps in 2018 to immediately put an end to the financial mismanagement.
“The FF Plus will contact the Mpumalanga Legislature’s Speaker and enquire about the specific dates on which the forensic investigation was launched, when it was finalised and why steps to put an end to the mismanagement were not taken earlier,” the statement concluded.
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