This is according to opposition parties in the Public Accounts and Finance Committee. Their calls follow the department's MEC Thembeni Nxangisa and accounting officer Mokete Duma's appearance before the Committee earlier on Thursday. The two had to answer tough questions regarding their department as the committee considered the Appropriation Bill for the different government departments. 

Following an allocation of more than R416 million towards the department by the MEC of Finance Gadija Brown earlier this week, Ngaxisa and Duma had to account for the department's role and the state of municipalities before the Committee.

Whilst the DA, EFF and the Freedom Front Plus all shared the same sentiments over the appalling state of municipalities and the urgent intervention needed, they all raised concerns at the millions coughed up under the Operation Clean Audits Programme.

The opposition raised questions over money earmarked to help municipalities improve their audit outcomes without any sign of success. The FF Plus' Jan van Niekerk raised his concerns over municipal financial woes, stating that many seem to fail to produce clean audits despite the money allocated specifically to help them achieve this. He further raised concerns about the use of consultants by municipalities, without any improvements.

OFM News