Newsletter 52 – Corruption, nepotism, and maladministration – 18 December 2009
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Three local municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal have been placed under administration following allegations of corruption, nepotism, and maladministration. In this newsletter, these allegations as well as the levels of service delivery backlogs in the three municipalities are analysed.
The KwaZulu-Natal MEC for local government, Ms Nomusa Dube, announced on 14th December 2009 that three local municipalities in the province, namely uMhlabuyalingana, Okhahlamba, and Indaka, would be placed under administration. This means that responsibilities of municipal managers have been assumed by the provincial executive council.
A forensic report showed that in uMhlabuyalingana, which is located near the Mozambique border and falls under the Umkhanyakude District Municipality, R14 million could not be accounted for. The municipality was found to be borrowing money to pay salaries and service providers. The local municipality is characterised by very low levels of service delivery. Some 15 473 (60%) of the 26 678 households live in traditional dwellings. Only 1 887 (7%) have access to electricity. Some 463 households (1.7%) have water inside their houses and 1539 (5.8%) have a flush or septic tank latrine.
In Okhahlamba, near the Free State border in the uThukela District Municipality, R20 million allocated for housing was found to have been spent irregularly. With the average cost of building an RDP house estimated by the minister of human settlements, Mr Tokyo Sexwale, to be R50 000 some 400 extra houses could have been built there. Some 14 959 (53%) of the 27 978 households in the municipality live in traditional dwellings. Some 11 192 (40%) households use electricity for lighting, only 1 617 (5.8%) have water inside their dwellings, and 2 530 (9%) have a flush or septic tank latrine.
The MEC also found that the Indaka municipality, which also falls under the uThukela District Municipality, had accumulated a deficit of R8.4 million and could not meet operating expenditure requirements as half of the operating budget was being used for salaries. Some 11 567 (54%) of households in the municipality lived in traditional dwellings. Some 10 051 (47%) households used electricity for lighting, while only 317 (1.5%) had access to water inside their dwellings, and 2 903 (14%) had a flush or septic tank latrine.
In all three municipalities, poverty levels are extremely high at 75% in uMhlabuyalingana, 71% in Okhahlamba, and 83% in Indaka.
The corruption and maladministration which frequently co-exist with very low levels of service delivery are, however, not unique to these municipalities. More forensic investigations throughout all 283 municipalities would reveal this.
This is the last newsletter for this year. The next newsletter will be published on 8th January 2010.
- Nthamaga Kgafela
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nkgafela
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last modified
2009-12-17 12:53
