Johannesburg faces scrutiny over financial misconduct and G20 Leader's Summit preparations

The City of Johannesburg will be taking action against members of its executive management team (EMT) should the Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) make adverse findings in its audit for the 2024/25 financial year.

Acting city manager Kiba Kekana has indicated that consequence management will be implemented.

"The accounting officer issued a directive to the EMT/senior management on the remedial action which was agreed to with all of EMT. This directive will be triggered upon conclusion of the 2024/25 financial year and the findings that will have been raised by the AGSA," he said.

According to Kekana, the city had delayed in establishing the disciplinary board which is now in place - current members were appointed in March 2024 after it was dis-established in May 2022 but later re-established.

He said the disciplinary board is currently investigating 18 matters of alleged financial misconduct amounting to just over R3 billion so that disciplinary action can be taken.

The matters include six still at full investigation stage (R1bn), 12 at preliminary investigation stage (R2.2bn) and the board has a schedule of monthly meetings to carry out its responsibilities as defined in the Municipal Finance Management Act regulations on financial misconduct procedures.

The country's biggest municipality has come under fire for its performance, with Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana raising concerns about the failure to address billions of rands in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure and implement consequence management against the responsible officials including any councillors who may have contributed to the failure.

Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero has outlined the key interventions as mobilising support through the Presidential Johannesburg Working Group established by President Cyril Ramaphosa in March and the Bomb Squad he set up to ensure rapid turnaround efforts.

In addition, a war room has been established to monitor the city's finances and ensure progress in the turnaround strategy.

Morero punted the importance of this week's three-day U20 mayoral summit as part of preparations for the G20 Summit in November.

He said deliberations would assist heads of state to also focus on issues that municipalities are raising and share ideas on how to tackle challenges facing municipalities so that they get support from national government.

Morero said the G20 summit should also focus on financing of municipalities as it is an international and global issue.

"How do you finance municipalities to make them sustainable, make them work? We will lobby national governments at the G20," he said.

Morero also declared that he was convinced that the city was ready to host the G20 Summit.

"We have already hosted three meetings of the G20 in Johannesburg - two at Melrose Arch, one at the Sandton Convention Centre. We have the capacity to host these meetings.

We are hosting the G20 (Leader's Summit) in Nasrec and we have made the necessary preparations. We have visitors coming, we must make sure we have made the necessary preparations," he explained.

Morero added that the administration he leads has not denied challenges the municipality is facing, especially within the inner city or central business district (CBD) of Johannesburg.

"There are serious issues in terms of decay. As the city government we have taken on issues of addressing crime, by-law enforcement," he said, adding that he was confident the interventions in the CBD will yield results.

Morero continued: "We continue to call on (the Department of) Home Affairs, which we think is a critical partner that needs to help us because we have got so much undocumented, illegal foreigners within the inner city who also contribute in illegal businesses that they are running and which forces us to also come and do compliance".

Governance expert and former eThekwini City Manager Dr. Michael Sutcliffe said he would never want to say in Johannesburg nothing works, as there is also a huge amount that works in the city.

He, however, flagged what he described as a lack of responsiveness by the municipality.

"We have to improve systems, have more competent people, and collectively build partnerships," Sutcliffe stated, explaining that his starting point is what the evidence shows.

"I read and study municipalities throughout our country. What you will find is that the word 'collapse' is only used twice in the city’s own annual report and the AGSA never uses such words at. Yet the media fail to see what both the city and the AGSA say are the achievements and challenges.

"That is why I said quite clearly that we can debate on whether or not the glass is two-thirds full whilst it should be 90% full, but the city has not collapsed - there are serious issues to address so let’s focus on them," Sutcliffe added.

loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za