This month, Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Dickson Masemola and Zolile Williams, the Eastern Cape’s Cooperative Governance MEC, visited Makhanda for an oversight visit of the Makana Local Municipality. They had stern words for the municipality, but it remains to be seen if they will be acted upon, writes JAY KRUUSE, director of the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM).
Every year since 2018/19, the Auditor-General (AG) has repeatedly issued disclaimer audit findings for Makana Municipality. To appreciate the seriousness of this and the level of both political and administrative dysfunction in the municipality it’s important to know that once a municipality submits its annual financial statements, the AG examines these to determine (a) if they fairly present the financials and there are no significant misstatements; (b) if they contain reliable performance information for predetermined objectives; and (c) if there is compliance with laws governing financial matters.
The AG then issues a report on whether a municipality has received one of the following:
- Clean audit: Everything done the way it should be;
- Unqualified audit with findings: Not bad, but could compromise accountability, if not already doing so;
- Qualified audit: Did not manage and account for finances to achieve best results;
- Adverse audit: Lots of problems everywhere, and nothing done according to correct rules and procedures; or
- Disclaimer: Things were so bad that they couldn’t even produce reliable evidence to support financial statements.
Before 2018, residents of Makana Municipality enjoyed relatively stable levels of service delivery and political oversight by councillors. The same cannot be said for the years since then, as is clearly and recurrently evidenced in the AG reports. Residents have had to endure regular water supply outages in violation of constitutional rights. Refuse collection has become erratic, with illegal dumping becoming more widespread. Inadequate management of municipal electrical infrastructure has led to regular yet avoidable electrical outages across various parts of town, affecting the productivity and well-being of businesses and residents.
Water rationing has resulted in pressure fluctuations in pipelines, leading to an increase in burst lines and leaking water valves. Failure to repair these leaks in a timely manner has compromised many road surfaces and affected underground electrical supply lines.
Significant ratepayers and revenue contributors such as Rhodes University and private schools have had to become more independent because they cannot rely on municipal services amid extended periods of instability and dysfunction. This unacceptable state of affairs has reduced the municipality’s revenue base.
A history of ineffective interventions, inadequate consequence management
This is not the first time Makana Municipality has had visits from senior politicians who have been called to try to address its dysfunction and little to no consequence management. Unfortunately, repeated calls over the years for meaningful external interventions, including requests that implicated senior persons be removed, have not resulted in such action.
During the meeting, Williams noted that Makana Municipality has been under administrative support for some time. Yet, it is not yielding the results needed to allow the municipality to function on its own.
He noted that there have been lapses in management, which are worrying, and questioned staff competence as “some are not performing as they are expected to”. The MEC recalled that he had visited Makana in 2023 when there was a disclaimer audit opinion, and in 2025, there was another. He said political leadership appoints managers to perform, and these leaders should hold managers accountable – if not, they must be blamed for failing to perform their function.
The MEC explained to Makana mayor Yandiswa Vara that “we don’t find the council eagerly holding managers accountable” and that “if you don’t remove them, then we have to focus on you as the mayor and the Speaker”.
He said Parliamentary questions relating to Makana were unending and that every week he had to respond. The MEC called for strong, studious leadership to take Makana “out of the morass”, adding that he was dismayed that, despite meeting Makana Municipality in February to discuss its audit action plan, there had been no movement since.
What’s next?
Masemola emphasised that the AG’s findings were highly concerning, could not remain as permanent features and must be addressed. He told Vara that, “unfortunately, we don’t get from your report the extent to which you have enforced consequence management”, and “if I were a mayor, I would not have allowed the same officials in office with five disclaimers. I would have expected consequence management.”
He added that “you can’t have two or three disclaimers and still be at the helm of a municipality” and that “it is a very serious matter”.
“If you, as a mayor, don’t make decisions, it comes back to you. They become your failures.”
The deputy minister emphasised that where a council presides over a dysfunctional administration, it implicates the council as an accomplice if it does not enforce consequence management. He ended his visit by requesting:
- A report from the MEC explaining what he was going to do to address the issues raised;
- A portfolio of evidence from Makana Municipality showing what led to the non-implementation of the audit action plan;
- Evidence of what Makana’s MPAC did, including a report on the effectiveness of holding officials accountable, including who did not implement corrective action;
- A report on the implementation of Makana’s SDBIP, with a percentage of performance broken down per directorate, including what was and what was not achieved. The report must also show the extent of the alignment with Makana’s budget;
- A copy of Makana’s SCM policy, its SCM implementation plan, as well as details of all suppliers contracted;
- A copy of Makana’s turnaround strategy;
- Makana’s municipal council must hold a formal sitting shortly to give the necessary power to a team of infrastructure engineers that will be constituted to address various infrastructure needs concerned with restoring basic services;
- The municipality must take steps shortly to pay R150,000 owed to a creditor tasked with repairing water supply pumps; and
- The municipality must engage shortly with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Treasury to determine how R10-million can be acquired to address insufficient pumps and motors at Makana’s water treatment works.
I suspect that the few residents who attended the meeting left with mixed feelings, as it remains to be seen if our visitors’ warnings and requests will be listened to and acted upon to turn this municipality around. Unfortunately, many residents remain extremely frustrated due to longstanding leadership failures at both the political and administrative levels of the municipality, which have eroded trust and prompted civic action.
The deputy minister and MEC noted after the engagement that their reputation and credibility were now on the block. We call on both to keep the public regularly updated on the action they are taking to address dysfunction in this municipality, which is positioned in a town with so much to offer its residents and visitors.
This article was first published in The Daily Maverick.
