Parliament, Friday, 5 September 2025 – The joint delegation of three parliamentary oversight committees, during their engagements with the City of Johannesburg and the City of Tshwane yesterday, highlighted the urgent need to entrench a culture of turnaround based on accountability, consequence management and targeted intervention.
The delegation, comprising the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the Standing Committee on the Auditor-General, is on an oversight visit in Gauteng to engage with municipalities on poor audit outcomes, among other matters. This oversight visit forms part of a broader engagement with underperforming municipalities across provinces.
The leader of the delegation, Dr Zweli Mkhize, emphasised that these engagements are not about political point-scoring, but about making government work for communities. “We want to create a culture of turnaround in municipalities – not just support, but accountability, consequence management and intervention. We will not accept political instability, negligence or failure to act on corruption. These oversight engagements are not about party politics,” he said, “they are about making government work.”
The delegation was firm on the destabilising role of political contestation in Gauteng’s largest municipalities. “Political instability has become the source of all the headaches,” said Dr Mkhize. “We cannot accept party-political differences as an excuse for paralysis. “Once leaders assume public office, conduct and responsibility must take precedence over factional battles.” He directed mayors and councils to act firmly against individuals who disrupt governance, irrespective of political affiliation. The Johannesburg and Tshwane metros have shown how persistent instability undermines administrative continuity, stalls service delivery, and weakens accountability structures. Dr Mkhize insisted that excuses rooted in party clashes will not be accepted.
Members reminded the municipal leadership that financial sustainability is the cornerstone of any successful turnaround in a municipality. “Everything stands and falls on revenue,” Dr Mkhize said. While members acknowledged the Johannesburg metro’s increased collection rate as a positive development, they stressed that maintaining credible and funded budgets, establishing councils that can effectively oversee operations and strong audit action plans are all non-negotiables in keeping a municipality financially sustainable. Similarly, members told the leadership of Tshwane to ensure that its Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) functions effectively and that audit committees operate with robust terms of reference.
Members noted that several municipalities have in the past failed to meet basic reporting deadlines, which the Auditor-General flagged as a source of material irregularities. They emphasised the importance of submitting credible annual financial statements on time. This, said Dr Mkhize, is unacceptable. “We want to use this process to ensure there is a change in the culture of accountability, introducing firm monitoring of consequence management, and thereby improving governance and strengthening the government machinery for service delivery.”
Service delivery failures, particularly in water and electricity, in both metros, drew sharp criticism from members. “You are losing R1.3 billion annually through water losses, and electricity losses also remain severe, Dr Mkhize reminded the leadership of the Tshwane metro. “We need detailed plans with targets and timeframes. Contamination of drinking water is not a technicality – it is negligence,” he noted. Members also demanded audits of water tanker fleets, investigations into transformer cartels and accountability for land invasions and corruption in revenue collection and security contracts.
Addressing the metros’ leadership, Dr Mkhize warned that corruption and maladministration remain corrosive, paralysing the capacity of municipalities to deliver services. “We must create disincentives for transgressions. Lifestyle audits and accountability frameworks must be enforced consistently, so that transgressions are attached to names and followed through to recovery and prosecution,” he said. The delegation also directed the municipalities to provide reports on investigations into unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, together with clear measures for recovery, referrals to law enforcement and disciplinary sanctions. “If flaws are repeatedly identified, they must be attached to a person’s name. That must be dealt with,” Dr Mkhize stressed.
The joint delegation also called for a measurable turnaround in the two metros and made it clear that Parliament will continue to demand evidence of progress. “We want to see evidence of turnaround, consequence management and accountability. We expect funded budgets, credible financial statements, strengthened oversight structures and improved service delivery outcomes. When we return, we expect to see progress – because the culture of turnaround in municipalities must be real and measurable,” Dr Mkhize said.
Johannesburg and Tshwane were flagged as critical test cases for Gauteng and the country. If these two metros can effect a successful turnaround of affairs, it can set a precedent for municipalities across South Africa. The delegation also called on municipal leadership, administrators and communities to embrace accountability, not as a punitive exercise but as a means for restoring public trust, stabilising municipal governance and delivering reliable services. Members emphasised that their oversight work is grounded in one fundamental principle: that municipalities must serve the people. For that to happen, a culture of accountability, consequence management and measurable turnaround must take root.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS, DR ZWELI MKHIZE.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact:
Name: Alicestine October (Ms)
Cell: 083 665 4345
E-mail: aoctober@parliament.gov.za
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