A joint meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) and the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs with eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality was postponed after committee members raised objections to the absence of City Manager Mr Musa Mbhele.
The joint meeting was intended to follow up on outstanding matters from an earlier engagement with the metro relating to its poor audit outcomes in the 2024/25 financial year. The committees flagged several concerns relating to issues of governance, procurement, human resources, including the City Manager’s salary package, service delivery, irregular expenditure and whether municipal leadership acted against officials implicated in wrongdoing. There were also security and protection arrangements for the metro’s leadership, legal matters and matters relating to a Special Investigating Unit proclamation on the agenda.
The committees heard that Mr Mbhele was on pre-planned leave and would only be back in office on Thursday. The Chairperson of SCOPA, Mr Songezo Zibi, wanted to know why they have not been informed in advance of this. “The person with whom we began this accountability conversation and from whom we require follow-up answers is not present,” Mr Zibi said.
He said the failure to notify the committees was unacceptable and noted that the next engagement should take place when the City Manager and political leadership could give Parliament their full attention. Mr Zibi noted that even the Mayor, Mr Cyril Xaba, was occupied, as he was on his way to another meeting.
The mayor acknowledged that Parliament should have been advised. “We accept the guidance that, in future, if any critical official will not be able to attend – particularly the accounting officer – the committee must be advised appropriately in advance,” he said. Mayor Xaba said the metro took the committees’ work seriously and had been prepared to account.
Before the postponement, the committees also considered eThekwini’s request that questions concerning security and protection services for City management be dealt with in camera.
The information requested included the security-services organogram and reporting lines, VIP protection budgets, the number of leaders receiving protection, senior-management security details and armoured vehicles, among other things.
Mr Zibi said Parliament had to distinguish between tactical security information and matters involving public expenditure and governance. “As a general principle, our proceedings must be public unless there is a specific reason why a particular portion of a discussion should not be public,” he said. “There therefore needs to be a clear justification. My proposal is that we make that decision if and when the situation arises, because I do not want to anticipate the questions members may ask.”
The Chairperson also assured the metro that the committees are cognisant the high levels of violence in the country, including violence against politicians and officials. “We will be sensitive to any information that could place someone's safety at risk,” he said. “However, we also have a responsibility to ensure accountability, and that accountability must generally happen openly so that South Africans can see it taking place.”
The committees will communicate a new meeting date in due course.
Alicestine October
25 August 2026
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