The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling for the immediate suspension, prosecution, and criminal investigation of municipal officials implicated in the widespread financial mismanagement exposed by Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) on Monday.
Following their oversight visit to the OR Tambo and Buffalo City municipalities last week, SCOPA revealed a deeply troubling pattern of mismanagement, corruption, and failed service delivery.
The committee found chronic delays and cost overruns on capital projects, with hundreds of millions of rands wasted on incomplete infrastructure. In OR Tambo, projects like the Lusikisiki Sewerage Project and Ntsonyini Dam remain unfinished despite massive expenditure, while materials lie abandoned or vandalised. Despite this, SCOPA was alarmed to learn that senior officials facing criminal charges continue to occupy key positions, with municipal leadership defending their presence.
In Buffalo City, the committee uncovered similar dysfunction, including incomplete waste-water treatment facilities and recreational projects costing over R178 million that are now derelict and unusable. Across both municipalities, SCOPA identified a culture of impunity, poor financial controls, and blatant disregard for consequence management, describing infrastructure departments as a cesspool of malfeasance and maladministration. The committee warned that despite recovery plans being in place, both municipalities remain far from recovery.
The committee was further alarmed to learn that the Speaker of Council, the Chief Whip and the Executive Mayor have on more than one occasion quashed damning reports pertaining to the projects. They could not provide convincing reasons for this, leading to what appears to be a culture of impunity and procurement malfeasance.
SCOPA has revealed that these municipalities are not broke by accident. They are broken because of years of mismanagement, corruption, and a complete lack of accountability, and the people suffer the consequences.
For years, our caucus has tabled motions, raised concerns, and called for intervention in municipalities such as Enoch Mgijima, whose infamous “stadium scandal” became a national embarrassment, yet the provincial government has failed to act decisively.
I will write to the Premier, Oscar Mabuyane, to request that his office ensure immediate accountability. He cannot turn a blind eye anymore. The DA requests immediate forensic investigations into maladministration, irregular expenditure, and possible criminal conduct in the identified municipalities.
The Premier, in consultation with the MEC for COGTA, Zolile Williams, must also ensure the suspension of senior officials and municipal managers implicated in financial mismanagement pending the outcome of disciplinary and legal processes. Where laws have been broken, criminal charges must be laid.
I will also write to the Provincial SCOPA Chair, Tiphany Harmse, to request that the provincial SCOPA committee meet with the national SCOPA so that we may assist in ensuring their findings and recommendations are followed up and implemented.
The people of the Eastern Cape deserve better. They deserve municipalities that work, budgets that deliver, and leadership that is ethical, accountable, and service-driven. We will continue to hold this government to account until meaningful action is taken and the rot in our municipalities is rooted out.