Parliament, Friday, 30 January 2026 – The joint oversight committees, comprising the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the Standing Committee on the Auditor-General, today expressed serious concern about persistent governance, leadership and service delivery challenges at the Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma Local Municipality. This follows an intensive oversight engagement aimed at reversing deteriorating audit outcomes and addressing municipal dysfunction.
The Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma Local Municipality is one of the 19 municipalities the committees engaged with during their four-day KwaZulu-Natal oversight visit, which took place from 27 to 30 January 2026. The visit was aimed at focusing on municipalities identified by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) as distressed or dysfunctional.
While acknowledging that the municipality has made progress – which includes preparing financial statements in-house and the reported absence of unresolved unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure – the committees cautioned that these gains are undermined by ongoing weaknesses identified by the Auditor-General. These include inadequate oversight of the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan, unfair and non-competitive procurement practices and insufficient investment in infrastructure repairs and maintenance, all of which require urgent corrective action.
The committees further raised serious concerns regarding leadership and accountability failures, particularly the unexplained absence of the Deputy Mayor during a critical oversight engagement. Members described this conduct as unacceptable, noting that it reflects poorly on the municipality’s leadership and undermines Parliament’s oversight function.
To enforce accountability and consequence management, the committees directed the municipality to submit a series of detailed, time-bound reports. These include a comprehensive report on all investigations into allegations of corruption and irregularities, covering forensic audits conducted, disciplinary actions taken and any referrals to the criminal justice system. The municipality was also instructed to submit a full report on security arrangements for councillors and officials, including threat assessments, duration of deployment and associated costs.
In addition, the committees demanded detailed progress reports on key capital projects undertaken by the municipality, with a particular focus on value for money and the adequacy of project supervision. Serious environmental concerns relating to pollution were flagged for urgent intervention, with the committees warning that failure to act decisively could expose the state to legal liability. The municipality was further instructed to clarify its implementation of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), amid concerns that current practices may constitute an abuse of the programme.
The committees emphasised that this oversight intervention forms part of a coordinated national and provincial strategy, undertaken in partnership with the Auditor-General, to arrest declining audit outcomes, strengthen accountability and eradicate a culture of impunity in local government. All requested reports are expected within three months and will be tabled before the Provincial Legislature and Parliament for further scrutiny.
“The objective of this process is not only to improve audit outcomes, but to restore the functionality of municipalities and ensure effective, efficient and accountable service delivery to communities,” said COGTA Committee Chairperson Dr Zweli Mkhize. “There must be a clear turnaround in governance, financial management and service delivery at the Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma Local Municipality.”
Commenting on the conclusion of the four-day oversight visit, Dr Mkhize said the engagements had strengthened accountability across all spheres of government. “This oversight visit has been successful in allowing the committees to exercise their oversight role more effectively. It has reinforced accountability and ensured that municipalities are directly confronted with the issues undermining service delivery,” he said.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS, DR ZWELI MKHIZE.
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