This, as the North West Treasury hosts a webinar on the use of consultants in municipalities. According to the Treasury, MEC Motlalepula Rosho, there is a high need to work on measures to improve the financial health of municipalities. 

Her statements come against the backdrop of a damning Auditor-General report, indicating that municipalities in the North West are in disarray, lacking any financial controls and accountability. Rosho says the purpose of the webinar underway is to ensure that the use of consultants, without any improvements, comes to an end. 

All 22 municipalities in the province are, according to the AG report, making use of consultants in addition to their financial staff complement, leading to wasteful expenditure. A total of R277,7 million was spent by municipalities in the province during the 2019/20 financial year alone.

The webinar, inclusive of all senior municipal officials, MECs, Premier Job Mokgoro, and the AG, comes at a time when poor service delivery across the country is in the spotlight with many calling for local government elections to be held before the end of February 2022.

“We need to look at ensuring that there is a transfer of skills wherever there is the use of consultants. We need to ensure that all our municipalities are capacitated,” highlights Rosho.

Mokgoro added that the use of consultants has proved to be “unfit for purpose”.

This is a developing story.

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