Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza has warned that budget roll-overs will no longer be tolerated after the province underspent by R574 million in the 2011/2012 financial year.
Mabuza’s spokesperson Zibonele Mncwango said the premier was concerned that unspent money affected the delivery of services.
Mabuza issued the warning during a recent cabinet planning lekgotla.
“He said in no uncertain terms that there will be consequences and heads will roll when department fail the public by not spending money according to their plans,” Mncwango said.
Meanwhile, only four (19%) of the province’s 21 municipalities have received clean audits.
According to Auditor-General Terence Nombembe’s report the best-performing municipalities are Ehlanzeni (Nelspruit) and Gert Sibande (Ermelo) districts as well Steve Tshwete (Middelburg) and Victor Khanye (Delmas).
Seven (33%) municipalities received unqualified reports with findings, while 48% of them received qualified opinions or disclaimers of opinions or had outstanding audits as at January 31 2012.
The worst-performing municipalities continued to be Chief Albert Luthuli (Carolina), Thaba Chweu (Lydenburg), Dr JS Moroka (Siyabuswa), Pixley ka Seme (Volksrust) and Umjindi (Barberton).
Carolina has been hogging headlines recently for its failure to provide clean water to its 17 000 residents after laboratory test found that water in the area was contaminated by acid mine drainage.
Umjindi and Thaba Chweu have experienced a number of protests this year due to lack of service delivery.
The DA has warned that the ANC-led government should stop creating jobs for pals or cadre deployment if it wanted to improve service delivery.
“A recent (corporative governance and traditional affairs) assessment showed that municipalities suffer from poor governance and accountability, weak financial management, high vacancy rates, high infrastructure backlogs, and in certain instances, are unable to deliver basic services,” said provincial DA leader Anthony Benadie.
