14 FEBRUARY 2025

PRESS STATEMENT ON IRREGULAR PAYMENTS MADE TO ASLA AND THE IMPLICATIONS ON HOUSING SERVICE DELIVERY

ASLA are the implementing agent of the Municipality’s housing pipeline. During the 2023/24 audit, the Auditor General raised a communication of findings in respect of the validity of the extension of the Municipality’s contract with ASLA beyond 2018. All payments made to ASLA since 2018 were subsequently deemed to be irregular and were disclosed as such in the 2023/24 Annual Financial Statements.

In terms of Section 32 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, Act 56 of 2003, a Municipality must recover unauthorised, irregular or fruitless and wasteful expenditure from the person liable for that expenditure unless the expenditure is after investigation by a council committee, certified by the council as irrecoverable and written off by the council.

The Municipal Council at a meeting held on 28 January 2025 referred the matter of the irregular expenditure to the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) for further investigation. MPAC recommended that the expenditure be certified as irrecoverable and written off as the Municipality had received full value for the expenditure. The Municipal Council considered this recommendation at a meeting held on 7 February 2025 and accepted MPACs recommendation.

This disclosure may impact negatively on the Municipality’s housing delivery programme and community meetings have been held with affected communities to explain the situation.The Municipality is also currently engaging with the Provincial Department of Infrastructure (Human Development) who have pledged their support to find an amicable solution to ensure continuation of housing delivery.  

Ends.

EO Phillips  

Municipal Manager