Msunduzi leadership to face Scopa grilling
In a letter dated May 13 and signed by Scopa chairperson Songezo Zibi, the committee requested the municipality's leadership to account for several issues
The leadership of the Msunduzi Municipality is expected to face intense scrutiny on Wednesday when it appears before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) over concerns relating to governance, financial management and audit outcomes.
Msunduzi Mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla and senior municipal officials were summoned to appear before Parliament’s watchdog committee in Cape Town following concerns linked to the municipality’s 2024/25 audit outcomes and overall performance.
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In a letter dated May 13 and signed by Scopa chairperson Songezo Zibi, the committee requested the municipality’s leadership to account for several issues, including findings raised by the Auditor-General of South Africa, infrastructure projects, irregular expenditure, revenue collection and consequence management.
According to the letter, the committee intends to interrogate “the state of governance, including audit outcomes, over the past three years” as well as “irregular, unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure over the past three years”.
Scopa has also requested detailed information on all deviations, contract extensions and contract variations, including the amounts involved, the companies linked to the contracts, reasons for the deviations and whether any officials were found guilty of wrongdoing.
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The committee further requested details relating to infrastructure projects, their compliance and management status, the municipality’s organisational structure, and progress made in implementing audit action plans.
One of the key focus areas during Wednesday’s engagement is expected to be consequence management, particularly whether the municipality’s leadership referred corruption and criminal matters to law enforcement agencies for investigation.
