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- Cogta parliamentary committee chair Faith Muthambi says officials will have to account for irregular expenses of eThekwini Metro of R2.3bn.
- He commended current Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda for restoring municipal finances and compliance.
- He wouldn’t be led into questions about the role of former mayor Zandile Gumede in the wasted billions.
Regardless of who the political leadership is on the eThekwini subway, the officials behind a whopping R2.3 billion of irregular spending in the last financial year will have to confront the music, Faith Muthambi, chair of the Governance committee, said on Friday. Cooperative and Traditional Affairs (Cogta). .
He visited the biggest culprit of KZN irregular spending as part of his oversight duties in Parliament.
Muthambi said she was satisfied with the current administration led by the mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, but would not be swayed by questions about former mayor Zandile Gumede and her administration’s role in the wasted billions.
“I do not want to delve into that policy (of Gumede) because I am going to lose focus. This administration, in terms of administrators, are the same officials. These are the same managers who must account for irregular spending,” he said. journalists.
Gumede is currently out on bail of R50,000 for his role in the Durban solid waste tender fraud, amounting to more than R400 million. He is accused of having used his influence to manipulate tender processes.
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Muthambi said that no one person could be responsible for all irregular expenses and that officials were held accountable.
“All these officials who are here … it is their irregular spending. That should not be perceived as irregular spending by a particular politician, because then we will be missing the point.”
Expectations
Muthambi said their expectation, as a committee, was that the irregularities would be met with consequence management.
He said that supply chain policies had received red flags.
“We are trying to get them to comply with the law. There is a breach of supply chain policies. When that happens, [supply chain] it is prone to fraud, mismanagement and corruption. At the end of the day, our concern is what have they done with those officials who have been found wanting? “
Praise
Muthambi praised Kaunda and his administration and said that they had made efforts to reverse the situation in the subway.
“With the new administration, we have interacted with them twice. On all previous occasions that we have interacted with them, we have given them deadlines and timelines for how they should respond to issues.
“I can say that they have delivered on that. What I love about this administration is their commitment. When you meet with the mayor, he talks about commitment and not promises.”
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Earlier in the year, the Auditor General reported that the metro had incurred irregular expenses of around R2.3 billion for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.
The GA report indicated that there was a lack of consequence management.
Since then, the municipality had leaked instructions that controls on bids and expenditures should be stricter.
In a statement earlier this year, the eThekwini metro said its restructuring strategy included monthly reports on procurement planning and the use of Section 36 for emergency no-bid procurement.
Projects should be tracked throughout the financial year.
