More than R1.3 billion in infrastructure funding has gone unspent by Eastern Cape municipalities over the past three financial years, even as basic services collapse and residents continue to suffer. From dry taps to half-built sports fields, communities are paying the price for government incompetence.
In response to a Parliamentary Question, Premier Oscar Mabuyane revealed that R734 million lay idle in 2021/22, a further R479 million in 2022/23, and R169 million in 2023/24.
Nelson Mandela Bay had its grant funding of R1,726 billion cut twice in the 2023/2024 financial year. The first cut was over R226 million due to underperformance concerns, followed by a second cut of nearly R172 million. Despite these cuts, the municipality still failed to spend 13.2% of the remaining funds.
It then attempted to roll over the remaining R174.5 million, but the request was rejected, leaving residents without the promised upgrades to water, roads, and electricity.
Buffalo City returned R13.8 million, while Amathole District failed to spend R240.7 million the previous year, despite chronic service backlogs.
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The Premier has repeatedly attributed these failures to vacancies in key posts such as municipal managers, chief financial officers, and project-management unit heads, as well as late or non-performing contractors, cash-flow crises, and even extortion on construction sites.
The human cost is visible in stalled or abandoned projects across the province. The Ibika–Centane Water Scheme remains incomplete for want of a viable water source, while sports facilities in Sarah Morosi, Ngcobo, and Qumbu have been left derelict after contractors walked away or were terminated for poor workmanship.
I will be tabling a motion later this month to compel the Office of the Premier, in collaboration with Provincial Treasury, to produce a Quarterly Infrastructure Grant Dashboard, which must be made available to the COGTA Portfolio Committee for oversight.
This dashboard must list project-by-project spend against the Division of Revenue Act (DoRA) targets and should activate a Provincial Treasury technical support unit whenever a project remains below 50 percent of its scheduled spend for two consecutive quarters.
The dashboard should also go live on a public website within 24 hours of tabling, giving residents and the media real-time oversight of how their money is being used
Communities across the Eastern Cape deserve functional water schemes, safe roads and dignified public spaces, not another year of excuses.
The DA will continue to pursue this matter in every oversight forum until every rand allocated to infrastructure is translated into real improvements on the ground. The people of the Eastern Cape deserve leadership that delivers, and a future built on dignity, opportunity, and honest government.