If claims of bankruptcy in the national Water and Sanitation MI Department that emerged yesterday are true, the Eastern Cape is at least partly responsible for financial chaos.
A City Press article revealed yesterday that it was in possession of documentation indicating that the department was R4.3-billion in debt and effectively broke.
The Daily Dispatch reported two weeks ago that the Water Ministry had won a court order to seize R73-million in assets from the OR Tambo district municipality to cover a debt that has been mounting since 2011.
The assets were set to go under the hammer on Friday.
However, the auction did not go ahead, it emerged yesterday.
Municipal spokesman Ayongezwa Lungisa said the amount was in dispute as OR Tambo claimed it was not responsible for all of the debt.
In a meeting on Thursday between all the parties, it was decided that the whole matter would be dealt with by an intergovernmental relations structure, Lungisa said.
The opposition said yesterday it plans to ask for several probes into the shocking bankruptcy claims. “The DA will request that the AG, Thembekile Makwetu, launches an independent investigation into the gross mismanagement of funds by Minister of Water and Sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane,” said DA shadow minister of water and sanitation Heinrich Volmink yesterday.
According to Section 5 (1) (d) of the Public Audit Act, the AG can carry out an “appropriate investigation or special audit” of state institutions if she/he considers it to be in the public interest or receives a complaint or request.
Volmink also wants Mokonyane to appear before the portfolio committee on water and sanitation. “Furthermore, senior officials from the Treasury and the auditor-general should be called upon to appear before the committee during the same briefing to provide further testimony,” he added.
“If the latest allegations are proven true,” said Volmink, “they could accelerate the national crisis around the department to the point that it severely compromises the delivery of water and sanitation services to South Africans.
“The fact that there is still no Water Master Plan for South Africa and therefore no clear roadmap to take us out of the national water crisis we are facing, would have been sufficient enough for severe censure of the minister.
“However, this fact, taken together with all of the above, provides more than enough reason to call for the Minister’s resignation.” — Tiso Black Star Group
Water ministry assets auction in limbo
A City Press article revealed yesterday that it was in possession of documentation indicating that the department was R4.3-billion in debt and effectively broke.
The Daily Dispatch reported two weeks ago that the Water Ministry had won a court order to seize R73-million in assets from the OR Tambo district municipality to cover a debt that has been mounting since 2011.
The assets were set to go under the hammer on Friday.
However, the auction did not go ahead, it emerged yesterday.
Municipal spokesman Ayongezwa Lungisa said the amount was in dispute as OR Tambo claimed it was not responsible for all of the debt.
In a meeting on Thursday between all the parties, it was decided that the whole matter would be dealt with by an intergovernmental relations structure, Lungisa said.
The opposition said yesterday it plans to ask for several probes into the shocking bankruptcy claims. “The DA will request that the AG, Thembekile Makwetu, launches an independent investigation into the gross mismanagement of funds by Minister of Water and Sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane,” said DA shadow minister of water and sanitation Heinrich Volmink yesterday.
According to Section 5 (1) (d) of the Public Audit Act, the AG can carry out an “appropriate investigation or special audit” of state institutions if she/he considers it to be in the public interest or receives a complaint or request.
Volmink also wants Mokonyane to appear before the portfolio committee on water and sanitation. “Furthermore, senior officials from the Treasury and the auditor-general should be called upon to appear before the committee during the same briefing to provide further testimony,” he added.
“If the latest allegations are proven true,” said Volmink, “they could accelerate the national crisis around the department to the point that it severely compromises the delivery of water and sanitation services to South Africans.
“The fact that there is still no Water Master Plan for South Africa and therefore no clear roadmap to take us out of the national water crisis we are facing, would have been sufficient enough for severe censure of the minister.
“However, this fact, taken together with all of the above, provides more than enough reason to call for the Minister’s resignation.” — Tiso Black Star Group
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