Matlosana pays contractor R4.5m within hours for work not done

The municipality is probing alleged retrospective payments

- By Setumo Stone

In a brazen defiance of municipal finance laws, the embattled City of Matlosana paid plant hire firm EK Construction R4.5-million within hours for services that were contracted to take up to 30 days or more to complete.

The payments, in violation of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), occurred while the city was under a mandatory provincial intervention for financial collapse, raising questions about accountability, and possible corruption.

On December 12, 2024, Matlosana officials signed several purchase orders with EK Construction for rental of equipment, including honey suckers, TLBs, and sewer jets.

Shockingly, invoices were paid the same day they were issued on December 13 - before a single hour of work was verified.

For instance, on December 13, the city processed a payment of R688 000 for 340 hours of TLB and sewer jet services. Despite the expected 15-day work span, the city processed an up-front payment of R652000 for 135 hours of landfill clean-up. These two payments are among the seven transactions the city executed on December 13, the same day invoices were issued.

Further, the provincial authorities, tasked with rescuing the bankrupt municipality, did not endorse the payments as required under the fiscal oversight provisions.