Klerksdorp Record, Klerksdorp - Financial mismanagement to the tune of R292m was uncovered in the Matlosana Municipality.
These shocking figures were made public at a special council meeting last week, in what the DA is describing the most shocking report in the history of Matlosana.
These revelations exposed fraud that implicates the higher echelons of the local government. The ANC, led by single whip Rose Thabanchu tried to get the report rejected by blaming the Acting MM for exceeding the scope of the investigation.
She was unsuccessful in burying the report by an independent investigator who was appointed to investigate various allegations of maladministration against the CFO. It was no surprise that the investigators found that several service providers received duplicate and in some cases even triplicate payments.
This report, in Klerksdorp Record’s possession, details how payments to service providers were made without invoices and without even providing goods. Also several payments were in excess of the invoice amounts with no consequences to the service provider.
The report reveals that a paraffin service provider was paid R6.2 million using the same order number twice. Some payments were made to companies without a contract with the municipality. Payments were made to a tax consultant where the contract expired 18 months ago, and to cover up, they extended it with a Regulation 36 appointment. No proper supply chain management (SCM) procedures were followed, like awarding and paying construction companies that owe the municipality thousands of rand on water and electricity.
Cllr Johannes le Grange said this report lies at the root of the municipality’s decline. He said the DA will submit the report to the Ministry of Local Government and ask the President to hand it to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). He blames the MM and CFO “for sleeping on the
job’’.
“The Municipal Manager should oversee internal control over all transactions. The CFO, who should oversee order numbers, delivery bills, checklists, and authorise payments, took advantage of the system to act without oversight, authorising multiple payments on the same invoice on the same day.’’
He also pointed out that the provincial executive representatives are complicit because “all of this’’ happened within the first three months of their arrival. “They could not identify a single transaction for scrutiny, and their internal control measures have borne no fruit. It has become quite evident that internal audit, the audit committee, MPAC, nor the EM, nor the Premier can stop the epidemic of looting.’’
