City Power did not take reasonable steps to avoid nearly R5bn irregular expenditure - AG
The AG’s report paints a picture of financial mismanagement within the entity entrusted with providing electricity to a majority of households and businesses in Johannesburg.
JOHANNESBURG - The Auditor General (AG) says senior management of Johannesburg City Power failed to monitor internal financial controls resulting in irregular and wasteful expenditure amounting to about R5 billion.
The power utility has received an unqualified audit opinion for the 2023/2024 financial year.
The AG’s report paints a picture of financial mismanagement within the entity entrusted with providing electricity to a majority of households and businesses in Johannesburg.
The AG says reasonable steps were not taken by Joburg City Power senior management to avoid its irregular expenditure of R4.8 billion.
The AG said a majority of the R150 million wasteful and fruitless expenditure was a result of late payments to Eskom.
Leader of the opposition party in Johannesburg, Belinda Keyser-Echeozonjoku said the Democratic Alliance (DA) has been raising the alarm for a long time over the incompetence of City Power’s management.
“We can see the effects of some of the issues being raised by the AG with the outages we are seeing at city power. It’s one of the reasons we have asked for a skills audit and a lifestyle audit.”
At a recent media engagement, City Power’s board chairperson, Makhosini Kharodi said the board is fully behind the senior leadership at the power utility.