{"id":98408,"date":"2025-06-13T12:31:57","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T10:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=98408"},"modified":"2025-06-13T12:31:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T10:31:57","slug":"municipal-crisis-deepens-r1-47-billion-spent-on-consultants-amid-audit-failures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/municipal-crisis-deepens-r1-47-billion-spent-on-consultants-amid-audit-failures\/","title":{"rendered":"Municipal Crisis Deepens: R1.47 Billion Spent on Consultants Amid Audit Failures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a> <\/em>
\n3-minute read<\/p>\n

13 June 2025 | 08:30 CAT<\/p>\n

\"\"

Chairperson of the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Committee Zweli Mkhize addressed a parliamentary cluster briefing on 3 March 2025. Picture: Phando Jikelo\/Parliament<\/p><\/div>\n

South Africa\u2019s municipalities are in a state of collapse. This is the sobering message emerging from the Auditor General\u2019s 2023\/24 report, which paints a bleak picture of wasteful expenditure and chronic governance failure. Over R1.47 billion was spent on consultants, while 59% of municipal financial statements were found to contain material misstatements.<\/p>\n

Dr Zweli Mhkize, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), told Radio Islam International<\/a> that the continued reliance on consultants, initially intended as a temporary solution has now become entrenched. \u201cIn 2013-14, R1.3 billion was spent on consultants. Now, it\u2019s R1.47 billion. The outcome? Only 16% of municipalities achieved clean audits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This outsourcing trend reflects a broader breakdown in administrative capacity. \u201cDaily financial records should be maintained internally. The use of consultants signals a failure in municipal finance departments to meet basic expectations,\u201d Mhkize stressed.<\/p>\n

Even more concerning is the revelation that 113 municipalities are operating with unfunded budgets, a practice Mkize describes as \u201ca serious transgression.\u201d He explains, \u201cIf you adopt a budget without guaranteed revenue, you\u2019re essentially promising services that cannot be delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accountability remains elusive. The report notes that 84% of municipalities failed to meet the conditions of the national debt relief programme, meant to ease their debt to Eskom and water boards. Municipalities signed agreements, yet many did not honour them, exposing systemic irresponsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis report is more than just an audit. It\u2019s a mirror to the dysfunction in our governance structures,\u201d said Mhkize. \u201cThere are municipalities that haven\u2019t submitted proper documentation in years. Where were the leaders while this happened?\u201d<\/p>\n

He emphasized that responsibility rests not only with municipal officials but also with political parties and provincial governments. \u201cEvery layer from the mayor to the premier must be held accountable,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

With essential services deteriorating and taps running dry, Mhkize warns of growing civil unrest. \u201cThe numbers don\u2019t lie, and neither do the empty taps. Citizens are waking up to the failures and will demand accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up<\/em><\/a> with Annsia Essacck and Dr Zweli Mhkize.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read 13 June 2025 | 08:30 CAT South Africa\u2019s municipalities are in a state of collapse. This is the sobering message emerging from the Auditor General\u2019s 2023\/24 report, which paints a bleak picture of wasteful expenditure and chronic governance failure. Over R1.47 billion was spent on consultants, while 59% of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":98409,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Zweli-Mhkize.jpg?fit=468%2C358&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-pBe","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-16 07:11:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}