This comes after it was revealed in Advocate Terry Motau’s explosive report, titled The Great Bank Heist, detailed how these municipalities illegally invested in the bank, thereby flouting the Municipal Finance Management Act. OFM News’ Pulane Choane reports that after national treasury intervened, the bank was placed under curatorship and later liquidated, leaving these municipalities cash-strapped with no money for services.

Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Zweli Mkhize, came down hard on the Madibeng, Mahikeng, and Moretele Local Municipalities, as well as the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality, stating that there would be no cash bailouts but his department would instead provide support to the affected municipalities in terms of helping them strengthen their internal controls, reporting and revenue-raising measures.

In today’s oversight visit to the North West Scopa, these municipalities will need to provide progress reports on how they have worked on improving service delivery since the scandal broke as well as how they will now intend to plan to recover the monies invested. The meetings started at 08h00 this morning and the Committee will rotate all throughout the province, visiting each municipality every two hours as each one delivers its own respective report.

OFM News