The City of Matlosana and Ditsobotla local municipalities in the North West have been urged to move beyond developing plans and demonstrate tangible progress in the way they are governed, manage public finances and deliver services to residents.
This emerged during a virtual meeting between the two municipalities and the Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA).
The committees conducted a joint oversight engagement with the municipalities to assess progress on matters previously raised through parliamentary oversight, audit findings and investigations.
Both municipalities, which are currently under administration, were among 69 municipalities whose July 2026 equitable share transfers were temporarily withheld by National Treasury as part of measures to enforce financial discipline.
The municipalities continue to face serious financial mismanagement, deteriorating infrastructure and persistent service delivery failures, among other challenges.
“What we now require is a report that demonstrates the impact of all the actions that are being taken,” stressed COGTA Chairperson Dr Zweli Mkhize.
The committees acknowledged efforts by the Matlosana Municipality to address concerns previously raised, but stressed that the municipality must now demonstrate that these interventions are translating into improved conditions for communities.
The municipality’s leadership was also directed to provide the committees with updated and properly reconciled information on outstanding creditor obligations, including payment arrangements with Eskom and Midvaal Water.
The committees said the report must also detail the interest charges on outstanding debt and indicate whether debt-relief arrangements were making a meaningful difference.
They also called for evidence of improved revenue collection and progress in addressing unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure (UIFWE), as well as weaknesses in procurement and contract management.
The municipality was further instructed to provide a report on sewage and water pollution, road maintenance and other service delivery concerns. The report must also address outstanding discrepancies relating to infrastructure projects and outline action taken against officials or politicians implicated in wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, the Ditsobotla Municipality, which has received disclaimer audit opinions for more than a decade, was instructed to submit to Parliament a time-bound financial recovery plan and a programme aimed at addressing the disclaimer audit outcome.
It was also instructed to provide an analysis of its debtors’ book and a clearly defined programme to identify, process and reduce UIFWE.
The analysis is expected to identify which funds are recoverable and irrecoverable, while also explaining how the municipality intends to improve revenue collection.
“The committees directed the municipality to provide a consolidated report on all investigations into allegations of impropriety, including procurement irregularities, which are currently being investigated,” the committees said.
The report should indicate which cases have been referred for prosecution or to the Special Investigating Unit for investigation, their current status, as well as the disciplinary action taken to date.
SCOPA Chairperson Songezo Zibi said the committees would ensure that findings and investigations were followed by appropriate action against those found guilty of wrongdoing.
“This joint oversight must ensure that we close the loop between audit findings, investigations and consequence management.
“We cannot in future continue to have poor audit findings and our communities suffering with no action being taken.
“The committees will be looking into this matter, and we expect to see improvement in audit findings, internal control systems and service delivery,” warned Zibi.
