The Auditor-General (AG) issued a qualified audit opinion to the Fetakgomo-Tubatse Local Municipality (Burgersfort, Steelpoort).
The findings of the AG's report confirms that the ANC is unable to govern responsibly.
The report indicated that the ANC-controlled Municipality is misappropriating taxpayers' money and does not want to accept accountability for it.
Some of the AG's findings were:
• Withdrawals from the municipal bank account and fruitless expenditure led to misappropriation amounting to R9 751 760.
• An additional R33 795 069 in allocations was underspent due to court cases about projects.
• Material losses of R23 595 651 were suffered due to defaults on trade debtors.
• Irregular expenditure amounted to R25 381 221.
• The Municipality's unauthorised VBS investment led to a loss of R245 146 632. Thus far, only R16 100 000 has been recovered.
In 2018, the council decided that the funds must be recovered from officials who resigned after the scandal, but nothing has been done up to date.
These lost funds would have significantly boosted service delivery, infrastructure maintenance and upgrades.
The FF Plus demands that those responsible for the squandering and misappropriation of taxpayers' money must be held accountable and be criminally prosecuted.
The FF Plus will continue to fulfil its watchdog role in the Municipality to residents' benefit.
The people of Burgersfort and Steelpoort deserve better than the ANC.