Ekurhuleni bags four ‘excellent governance’ accolades from Salga

Despite service delivery challenges dogging SA’s manufacturing hub, the City of Ekurhuleni was awarded four accolades for achieving “clean governance” by the SA Local Government Association (Salga), the employer body representing the country’s 257 municipalities.

Ekurhuleni is among Gauteng’s metros of Johannesburg and Tshwane that have been rocked by instability and are run by coalitions after the local government elections in 2021 failed to produce a clear winner. Political pundits and analysts have criticised coalitions for being more about positions than the delivery of municipal services.

Both the ANC/EFF coalition, and the previous DA-led multiparty coalition claimed the victory as theirs.

 “The city walked away with two first-places for the 2021/22 financial year clean audit outcome, and for good record keeping — a critical process in the audit purposes and measuring service delivery achievements,” the metro said.

“The city then got a second-place award for capital expenditure on the allocated budget, and another second-place for revenue collection and management.”

Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini noted the awards came on the back of the metro’s “remarkable feat of securing three consecutive audits”.

Ekurhuleni city manager Dr Imogen Mashazi said: “We all know that it is never easy to achieve and maintain a clean audit in local government. However, as the city, we have always made this one of our key targets and managed to achieve it.

“We are proud to have received three consecutive clean audit opinions from the Auditor-General and remain determined to maintain the status quo going forward.”

Mashazi said the audit committee conducts quarterly reviews of internal processes and interrogates the city’s performance to ensure the administration remains committed to improving the controls: “The oversight from the Audit Committee also contributes to the effectiveness of the turnaround strategy, which has translated to positive audit outcomes.”

However, the DA in Ekurhuleni has claimed the achievement as theirs, saying the clean audit was achieved during DA councillor Tania Campbell’s tenure as executive mayor.

In a statement, Campbell, the DA caucus leader in Ekurhuleni, said her party notes and welcomes the awards bestowed upon the metro.

“These awards aim to celebrate excellence within municipalities. Awarded for the 2021/22 financial year, these awards showcase the extensive turnaround strategies the DA and our coalition partners implemented to get Ekurhuleni functioning and operational after taking over a mismanaged municipality from the ANC,” Campbell said in a statement.

As executive mayor of Ekurhuleni, Campbell received an award for leadership and a clean audit at Salga’s Women Municipal Leadership Excellence Awards in August 2022.

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The multiparty coalition improved the city’s cash on hand through “our rigorous revenue enhancement programmes and focusing on basic services, which cannot be ignored and was recognised accordingly by Salga”.

Campbell was removed through a no-confidence vote on March 30 and replaced by ATM councillor Sivuyile Ngodwana, whose party holds three seats in the 224-seat Ekurhuleni council.

Campbell was initially removed as executive mayor on October 26 but voted back into the position on November 8 after the ANC and EFF could not agree on a mayoral candidate.

The R51.2bn-budget municipality is effectively run by the ANC and EFF, with positions in executive mayor Ngodwana’s 10-seat mayoral committee equally shared by politicians from both parties.

Ekurhuleni finance MMC and EFF Gauteng chair Nkululeko Dunga is expected to table his budget at the council chambers in Germiston on Thursday.

mkentanel@businesslive.co.za