MPs gunning for BCM, OR Tambo municipality over governance failures

MPs have sharply criticised the Buffalo City metro and the OR Tambo district municipality for failing to take action on the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) referrals and auditor-general’s (AG) findings. They voiced concerns about governance failures, delayed infrastructure projects and weak accountability systems in these municipalities. This emerged during a joint meeting of parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) and the portfolio committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs.

The criticism comes after the two municipalities appeared before the two committees this week. MPs flagged concerning findings from the AG and ongoing investigations by the SIU. The committees highlighted a litany of serious challenges in both municipalities.

These include compliance with supply chain management legislation and regulations. According to the MPs, the AG continues to find repeated violations of supply chain management legislation and regulations in both municipalities, raising concerns about whether contracts are awarded fairly and transparently. “The committees also highlighted poor contract management that is evident in several projects in both municipalities, where suppliers have either failed to meet their obligations or abandoned project sites entirely, with little or no action taken against them,” Scopa chair Songezo Zibi said on Friday. “Both municipalities have several cases of poor project management where projects fell behind schedule due to failures by consulting engineers or contractors, yet payments continued to be made.” “The SIU has made several referrals for disciplinary and criminal action in both municipalities; however, many of these cases have remained unresolved for years.