Municipalities fail to act on R62bn in irregular expenditure

AUDITOR-General Tsakani Maluleke has shed light on the staggering R62 billion irregular expenditure processed by municipalities over the past five years, primarily through the writing off or condoning of irregular expenditure without adequate investigations.

- MAYIBONGWE MAGHINA [e-mail]

This disturbing trend was highlighted during a briefing to the Standing Committee on Auditor-General on Friday, when Maluleke indicated that a staggering 99% of the R62 billion in irregular expenditure has been written off, while a mere 1% has been recovered since the beginning of the current councils’ term in 2021.

“We found that often they were writing off without investigating,’ she said, pointing to the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and Renosterberg Local Municipalities as glaring examples of this negligence.

Maluleke noted that even when investigations were conducted, the processes were often flawed.

“It's either not scoped to deal with the extent of the findings that we've identified, or it’s being written off even without council approval.”

In the case of Mkhanyakude District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, it was established that specific officials were liable for misconduct associated with the irregular expenditure, yet the resultant losses remain unrecovered.