The latest report by the Auditor-General (AG) on the Victor Khanye Local Municipality (Delmas) lays bare the extent of financial maladministration and poor service delivery.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) has been highlighting these problems for a long time, and these figures confirm that there is serious cause for concern.
Key findings by the AG for the 2024/25 financial year include:
• Employee costs rose to R265 million – R18 million more than budgeted.
• Maintenance and emergency repairs amounted to R58 million – compared to a budgeted R42 million.
• R120 million was allocated to capital projects for housing and infrastructure, but only R74 million was spent.
• The AG declared R12,4 million as fruitless expenditure and R87 million as irregular expenditure.
This maladministration means that funds are not spent effectively, while residents daily face challenges such as inadequate water supply, irregular refuse removal, crumbling roads and unmaintained infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the Local Municipality, District Municipality and provincial government keep shifting responsibility back and forth – a game of cat and mouse with no winner, leaving the community in the lurch.
The Freedom Front Plus insists that the Mpumalanga provincial government fulfil its constitutional duty and immediately intervene at the Victor Khanye Municipality.
Stringent financial discipline should be enforced, allocations for capital projects should be fully utilised, revenue collection has to improve and municipal managers should be held accountable for maladministration.
The Freedom Front Plus will formally raise the matter in the Legislature and keep pressing for a clear, concrete intervention plan.
That is the only way to protect residents’ interests and restore sustainable, reliable service delivery.
