Go! Durban under scrutiny: Parliamentary Committees conduct oversight visits to eThekwini

Three Parliamentary Portfolio Committees are conducting oversight visits to the eThekwini Municipality on Wednesday, focusing on governance failures, audit outcomes, and financial management.

The committees have scheduled oversight engagements in KwaZulu-Natal between January 26 and 30, 2026, with direct and substantive engagements affecting eThekwini.

The Portfolio Committees are:

• Sports, Arts, and Culture
• Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta)
• Transport

According to the eThekwini Corporate Services Department report to the Executive Committee (Exco) on Tuesday, the portfolio committees are mandated to exercise oversight over municipalities to ensure accountability, effective governance, financial management, legislative compliance, and service delivery performance.

The committee is expected to conduct oversight of the following municipal facilities:

• Isigcawu Arts and Culture Centre situated in KwaMashu
• KwaBulawayo Cultural Centre which is built on the site of King Shaka’s home near Eshowe
• Durban Central Library

“The purpose of the visit to the Durban Central Library is to verify reports submitted, assess the effective use of public funds, identify gaps between policy commitments and implementation, and inform Parliamentary deliberations and budgetary processes,” the Exco report explained.

The COGTA Committee, jointly with the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), the Standing Committee on the Auditor General (SCOAG), and the Provincial Legislature and its Portfolio Committee on Cogta will also form part of the oversight.

The oversight will focus on governance failures, audit outcomes, financial management, infrastructure delivery, and accountability systems. The municipality has been instructed to submit a comprehensive written report addressing:

• Governance systems, including the political-administrative interface, Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) functionality, and ward committees.
• Financial management, audit outcomes, revenue collection, debt, billing systems, material irregularities, consequence management, and economic recovery plans
• Infrastructure performance, non-revenue water, and electricity losses
• Service delivery performance and Local Economic Development (LED) programmes
• Specific matters raised by the Auditor-General, including housing project delays, conflicts of interest, billing inaccuracies, environmental non-compliance, technical vacancies, water and electricity losses, and weakness in the accountability ecosystem

The Portfolio Committee on Transport is expected to focus on the implementation of the Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN).

The visit will include

• A briefing by the municipality on the status of the IPTN:
• Public Transport Network Grant (PTNG) allocation and expenditure
• Compliance with grant conditions and reasons for slow implementation
• Contingency plans should grant funding to be reduced or withdrawn
• Plans for the utilisation of existing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) infrastructure

The report to Exco also stated that the 2026 Parliamentary oversight engagements constitute a critical accountability milestone for the municipality.

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