Gauteng govt wants stronger consequence management from municipalities for fruitless & wasteful expenditure

JOHANNESBURG - The Gauteng government said that municipalities needed to implement stronger consequence management after recording R2.3 billion in fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

This is highest figure recorded among the nine provinces in country, according to the Auditor-General’s report for the 2022/2023 financial year.

Gauteng Treasury reflected on the latest AG report on Thursday.

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Irregular expenditure happens when a municipality spends money without following the proper procurement processes.

This can also take place during emergencies when there is no time for the municipality to follow normal tender bidding processes.

Gauteng Treasury head, Ncumisa Mnyani, said that while irregular expenditure resulted in some value for the respective municipality, fruitless and wasteful expenditure had no value.

She said that one of the biggest contributors to fruitless and wasteful expenditure was interest on municipal loans.

"It's a combination of normal business transactions and also elements of corruption, which will then mean an investigation needs to be conducted by an entity to understand what are the circumstances that led us to this situation."

Fruitless and wasteful expenditure for Gauteng municipalities increased by 32% compared to the previous financial year.