Makana municipality toxic and dysfunctional, parliamentary committee finds

Its poor performance has led to the identification of material irregularity as the consequences involve substantial harm to the citizenry

Parliament’s co-operative governance and traditional affairs portfolio committee found its September oversight visit to a “dysfunctional and toxic” Makana municipality meaningful but also “most disheartening ” .

The committee compile its report after a four-day visit during which the seven-member multiparty committee, chaired by the ANC’S Fikile Xasa, heard submissions from stakeholders including Rhodes University, the Unemployed Peoples Movement (UPM), business forums and civil society organisations.

MPS also conducted site inspections of vital service delivery sites such as Makhanda’s dysfunctional water and wastewater treatment plants.

The visit was part of parliament ’ s undertaking to conduct intensified oversight of the country ’ s 64 most dysfunctional municipalities which had received consecutive disclaimed audit opinions — the worst audit opinion possible — from the auditorgeneral.

The oversight report paints a bleak picture of the municipality, which the committee described as having a “dysfunctional and toxic” environment.

Some of the committee’s worst findings included:

Ageing and dysfunctional water and sanitation infrastructure, leading to prolonged drinking water outages for residents as well as serious sewage leaks and untreated sewage flowing from the wastewater treatment plants into surrounding areas and rivers;

Critical financial health indicators show deterioration;

Increasing unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure;

Staff overtime claims making the salary bill unaffordable;

Conditional grant spending is problematic, leading to constant requests for grants to be rolled over;

Failure to implement the financial recovery plan or provincial treasury recommendations; Consecutive audit disclaimers; Poor revenue accounting systems;

Lack of good political leadership or stable administration; and

Excessive use of external service providers.

But Makhanda residents and organisations said there was nothing new in the portfolio committee’s findings.

What was lacking, they said, was the political will to find and implement solutions to the long-standing problems.

“We know the rot, we want consequences and action,” the UPM’S Ayanda Kota said.

“The AG has repeatedly painted a picture of the rot. We demand action and will be writing to the committee to ask for it.”

Makhanda resident and activist Philip Machanick agreed. He questioned what action would be taken, for instance, to get the town’s main water treatment plant, James Kleynhans, upgraded and fully functional. Upgrades on the plant have been problematic for years and ground to a halt when the main contractor was liquidated after failing to pay subcontractors.

The portfolio committee said the history of instability in Makana’s administrative and political leadership meant no leadership tone had been set from the top, leading to a dysfunctional and toxic environment.

“The oversight [visit] to Makana was most meaningful but also most disheartening. The repeat findings against the municipality [are] an indication that it is in need of serious intervention.

“Its poor performance has led to the identification of material irregularity as the consequences involve substantial harm to the citizenry.”