The troubled Makana Local Municipality has racked up R5bn in irregular expenditure over the past five years amid its water crisis and service delivery failures.
The revelation came to light when DA MPL Jane Cowley tabled a motion for the dissolution of the Makhanda-based council during a plenary session in the Bhisho legislature last week.
Cowley said her motion was prompted by the municipality’s financial woes and inability to provide basic services.
But the provincial government was adamant that an intervention was on track, with ANC MPLs blaming the apartheid regime for the challenges.
In May, a high-powered team was deployed to help the council get its finances and infrastructure in order after a visit by co-operative governance and traditional affairs deputy minister Namane Dickson Masemola and Cogta MEC Zolile Williams.
Cowley said Makhanda was in shambles and cited malfeasance, corruption, protectionism and incompetence as major contributing factors.
“This town, until about 10 years ago referred to as a national treasure, has literally and figuratively been trashed by an uncaring and unqualified cabal of alleged thieves,” Cowley said.
“The Makana Local Municipality has received five or six consecutive disclaimer audit opinions from the auditor-general, including for the 2023/2024 financial year, confirming the absence of credible financial records, pervasive ongoing noncompliance with the MFMA [Municipal Finance Management Act] and failure of all internal controls.
“In the past five years alone, accumulated irregular, unauthorised and fruitless and wasteful expenditure has now stood at a whopping R5.3bn.
“This alone could have paid for a new water reticulation system and a new sewage system for the entire Makhanda twice over; instead, they have absolutely nothing to show for it.
The James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works upgrade, intended to double Makana’s water capacity, has ballooned from R160m to more than R700m, yet remains non-functional, with only one operational pump and no confirmed completion date, according to Cowley.
Fellow DA MPL Retief Odendaal backed Cowley’s motion.
Odendaal said the municipality had been under various forms of intervention over the past 14 years, yet the lives of the residents had not improved.
“In 2024, the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs deployed a technical support team led by Mr Reynhardt Brittnell to stabilise the administration and restore basic functionality.
“Under his leadership, the team made commendable progress in identifying systematic problems and providing practical solutions,” Odendaal said.
“However, instead of being supported, Brittnell and his team faced intimidation and threats within the municipality itself, repeated requests for assessments and protection were ignored and ultimately Brittnell was forced to flee Makhanda in fear for his life.
“This tragic episode reveals more than administrative dysfunction — it exposes a municipality captured by self-serving individuals who have no interest in the wellbeing of our residents.”
The Eastern Cape government performance report revealed critical and persistent challenges in Makana, facing systemic risks that threaten service delivery and financial sustainability.
Williams disagreed with Cowley’s motion.
“Dissolution is therefore not a tool of convenience, it is a measure of last resort,” he said.
“Many would argue that we continue to harp on the apartheid past because we don’t want to deliver services to our communities.
“Unfortunately, if you look at the Makana municipality, you can’t divorce that institution from the apartheid past.
“The type of infrastructure, especially in the black townships, is contradicting the investment we are making at the James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works.
“The bulk infrastructure is being resolved through our intervention.
“But the challenge is that pipelines that have to serve the communities, because they were meant for black people, they’re so small.
“Now when the major infrastructure we have installed is releasing water to these townships, all those pipelines cannot [cope with] the capacity of water coming in.
“Now we have to start with reticulation of all those black townships and put in new infrastructure at a huge cost because of what apartheid did to our people.
“Now we are being blamed today as if we can’t do anything.
“Here is James Kleynhans — it has been done, there’s bulk water capacity, but in terms of that water getting to the communities, we have got a challenge of the capacity of reticulation systems that are unable to withstand the bulk support that’s coming.
“The municipality is grappling with severe water and electricity losses and such are reported at 22%, which is above the norm.”
Williams admitted that financial governance was an area of concern.
The municipality has been put under Section 139(5) of the constitution.
“We are concerned about the multiple disclaimers they have received,” Williams said.
“It’s us, after direct interaction with that municipality, who said the administrative leadership of the municipality must face consequence management.”
Williams was confident their experts were dealing head-on with all the challenges the municipality faced.
Cogta portfolio committee chair and ANC MPL Nomasikizi also blamed the legacy of apartheid in the municipality’s challenges.
“The majority of residents that were structurally secluded from quality service provision are now beneficiaries of bursting water pipes, sewage spillages and dilapidating infrastructure,” she said.
Daily Dispatch
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