The audit results released by the Auditor-General (AG), Kimi Makwetu, for Free State municipalities show that the province is not in good hands seeing as the current Premier, Sisi Ntombela, was the MEC for Cooperative Governance for the period (2016/2017) on which the report is based.
Due to the poor leadership of Ntombela as MEC and the ANC’s mismanagement of the province, the AG reports that all Free State municipalities are now in need of intervention to prevent total financial ruin.
The AG found that two Free State municipalities, the Matjhabeng Local Municipality (Welkom, Virginia and Hennenman) and the Mangaung Metro Municipality (Bloemfontein, De Wetsdorp, Wepener and Vanstadensrus), respectively rank first for unauthorised expenditure and overspending in the country.
The ANC‘s financial looting of the Free State seems to have no end with R640 million rands in irregular expenditure related to payments and expenses for the particular period.
The province’s overspending and irregular expenditure occurred despite the fact that consultants were paid R57 million to improve the financial controls.
The fact that not even one Free State municipality received a clean audit shows that the ANC is not capable of and not interested in governing the province with financial discipline as three Free State municipalities, Maluti-A-Phofung (Harrismith and QwaQwa), Mafube (Frankfort, Villiers, Cornelia and Tweeling) and Masilonyana (Brandfort, Theunissen, Winburg and Verkeerdevlei), were put under ANC administration and still they did not improve.
Makwetu has now just confirmed what the FF Plus has been fighting against in the Free State Legislature for a long time, namely instability in the management and leadership of municipalities, a lack of competent officials, political interference in councils (particularly where guilty officials are supposed to be held accountable) and corrupt officials who just keep looting the province.
As former MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, it was Ntombela’s duty to take the lead as political leader.
But under her leadership, the Free State municipalities only went downhill – this does not bode well for the Free State’s future under her premiership.
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