“To date, no funds have been recovered and only one case has been referred to the South African Police Service (SAPS),” says the DA’s head of the Emfuleni North Constituency, Kingsol Chabalala.

“The money that was spent irregularly could have been used to provide much needed services to our residents. Service delivery has collapsed in Emfuleni, with residents experiencing intolerable water shortages, low water pressure, a constant electricity crisis, a lack of regular refuse collection, and sewer challenges while there are officials who benefitted illegally from the money meant to better their lives,” says Chabalala.

The Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Lebogang Maile responded tot questions by the opposition party in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature and said there were six forensic investigations that were conducted in Emfuleni since 2010.

Of these investigations, five were conducted from 2011 to 2015, and one investigation was conducted between 2018 to 2020. These investigations had been undertaken by Comperio Forensic Company at a cost of R56.5 million.

31 Emfuleni officials were identified as being responsible for the irregular expenditure and other irregularities, while 21 of these have left the employ of the municipality. To date, no employee has been fired and no service provider has been blacklisted.

“The DA is calling on Emfuleni to resume the process of recovering all the monies from the implicated officials to assist this municipality which is facing a serious cash flow crisis.

“Irregular expenditure opens the door to corruption and points to poor planning. This has a huge negative impact on a municipality’s budget which severely affects service delivery. Irregular expenditure and irregularities will continue for as long as there is no consequence management systems in place. Furthermore, officials are allowed to resign before disciplinary action can be taken against them. In most cases, the residents are at the losing end of the stick as they continue to suffer a lack of service delivery that they are rightfully entitled to, as is happening in Emfuleni,” says Chabalala.

According to him the DA will continue pursuing for answers as to why no more cases have been opened with the police.

“We will also make a follow-up with regards to the case that was opened to ascertain the progress. Residents do not deserve any further suffering from a lack of basic service delivery while there are a few individuals who benefited from dishonest money,” says Chabalala.