»ANC is shocked by the silence of ActionSA and FF Plus in Tshwane«
According to George Matjila, ANC regional secretary in Tshwane, the adverse audit report findings by auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke validated the long-held belief that the DA-led coalition is “incompetent, corrupt, and lacks the ability to lead.”
Matjila stated that the alliance was formed solely to oust the ANC from power and was never prepared to handle the deteriorating infrastructure, offer services, or create much needed jobs.
Matjila stated, “In 2016, minority parties were coerced into an unprincipled coalition that elevated the Democratic Alliance and placed it on a pedestal, despite the ANC’s warning that any support offered in the coalition is not based on principle but is used to consolidate a neoliberal agenda and backwardness.”
“The first political term of the DA-led coalition was bolstered by EFF backing, and its performance, or lack thereof, is clear and well-captured by the AGSA in the last two audited fiscal years.
“In 2020, when the Gauteng provincial government decided to place the City of Tshwane under section 139[1][c], it was found to have acted harshly by both the Gauteng North High Court and the Constitutional Court, but the apex court agreed that the Gauteng executive committee should have explored other options for implementing corrective action.
“We believe it was appropriate for the ANC in Tshwane to seek immediate intervention due to the lack of political and administrative leadership.” This was an act of sabotage against the public, as service delivery collapsed in each location.
“The AG [auditor-general] followed the findings of the internal performance audit in all of its work: a lack of leadership, poor reporting, and ongoing inaccuracies and misrepresentations of facts.”
Since then, Maluleke has identified R10 billion in irregular expenditures in Tshwane. Her research indicates that the municipality manipulated its financial statements to conceal anomalies and wrongdoing.
This week, the ANC utilized Maluleke’s findings to criticize the DA-led coalition, claiming unauthorised expenditures of more than R600 million, including unproductive and wasteful expenditures that were overstated by more than R1 billion.
Matjila added, “There were unjustified supply chain management deviations of over R480 million, as well as material misstatement of assets under construction that were disclosed as completed, resulting in an R2 billion overstatement.”
“Assets worth more than R52 billion were not properly accounted for, evaluated, and their impairment was not appropriately assessed. Over R800 million in leave pay, as well as over R800 million in loans and bonds, were not properly accounted for.
In the previous seven years, according to the ANC, the coalition led by the DA has moved from one scandal to the next and accelerated the decline of the city.
“The feeble justification for failing to provide community safety, good water, dependable public transportation, and a clean environment was that the ANC was either to fault or assigned blame. Without recounting the countless failings of the DA-led coalition, we may conclude that the current alliance of parties has no future.
“We are shocked by ActionSA and Freedom Front Plus’s (FF Plus) silence on the current state of affairs. All parties have their heads buried in the sand.”
Tuesday, the multi-party coalition of ActionSA, Freedom Front Plus, IFP, African Christian Democratic Party, Cope, and the Democratic Alliance issued a statement reiterating that the audit result was unacceptable by the standards of a coalition of parties attempting to reverse the legacy of failed ANC governance.
Coalition spokesman Corne Muller stated, “The meeting received compelling evidence that a number of audit findings resulted from the seemingly deliberate actions of the former CFO [chief financial officer] to mislead City of Tshwane structures and undersupply available information to the auditor-general.
“Simultaneously, substantial issues concerning systems and controls have been uncovered, indicating that immediate reforms in governance and consequence management for departmental failures are required. The coalition monitoring panel will meet again in the coming days, it was determined.
“This meeting will focus on the subject of political consequence management, as well as the group’s oversight of the multi-party coalition government of Tshwane’s preparations to undertake the corrective measures specified by the auditor-general.
“All political parties in the governing multiparty coalition in Tshwane have pledged to distinguish themselves from the failed ANC administration by taking decisive action in response to the auditor general’s report,”
Matjila asserted that Mzi Khumalo, Gauteng’s MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs, had requested a detailed response to Tshwane’s ongoing financial issues, but was allegedly given a lukewarm response “laced with lies and cover-ups.”
Matjila stated, “As a constitutional democracy, we encourage the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs to immediately implement section 139[5] of the constitution as a remedy.”
“We will also send a letter to the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, regarding the water problem in Hammanskraal and Bronkhorspruit, requesting that he consider enacting Section 63 of the Water Service Act. This historic and challenging mission of supplying safe, clean water to those people requires action from the federal government.”
He added that the South African Local Government Association should assist Tshwane with its current problems.
»ANC is shocked by the silence of ActionSA and FF Plus in Tshwane«