ActionSA North West is demanding urgent accountability following a parliamentary response from the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosini Hlabisa. He confirmed that North West municipalities collectively spent R344 million on consultants during the 2024 financial year. This represents the highest consultant expenditure of any province in South Africa.
This response confirms a worrying pattern of heavy reliance on consultants across municipalities in the province, despite ongoing financial mismanagement and poor service delivery outcomes.
During today’s SCOPA proceedings, ActionSA MPL Masego Kodisang raised serious concerns about continued consultant expenditure in municipalities that remain unable to achieve credible financial management outcomes.
In Tswaing Local Municipality, approximately R17 million was spent on financial reporting consultants, yet still received a qualified audit opinion with material misstatements. Despite this, the municipality incurred R130.4 million in unauthorised expenditure during the 2024/25 financial year, bringing its cumulative unauthorised expenditure balance to approximately R711 million.
MPL Kodisang further questioned why Bojanala Platinum District Municipality spent R29 million on external consultants for financial statements, yet the quality of the statements regressed, with 12 material line items requiring adjustments.
In Moses Kotane Local Municipality, consultant expenditure included R11.4 million for the preparation of financial statements and a further R9.6 million for asset management services, raising similar concerns about the effectiveness and value of these contracts.
ActionSA maintains that municipalities cannot continue to spend millions on consultants while recurring audit failures, unauthorised expenditure and weak financial controls persist year after year.
ActionSA will continue to use all oversight mechanisms available through the Provincial Legislature and SCOPA to demand accountability, expose wasteful expenditure and ensure that public funds are redirected towards improving service delivery rather than sustaining a cycle of dependency on consultants.
ActionSA Demands Answers As North West Spends R344 Million on Consultants While Municipal Failures Persist
ActionSA North West is demanding urgent accountability following a parliamentary response from the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosini Hlabisa. He confirmed that North West municipalities collectively spent R344 million on consultants during the 2024 financial year. This represents the highest consultant expenditure of any province in South Africa.
This response confirms a worrying pattern of heavy reliance on consultants across municipalities in the province, despite ongoing financial mismanagement and poor service delivery outcomes.
During today’s SCOPA proceedings, ActionSA MPL Masego Kodisang raised serious concerns about continued consultant expenditure in municipalities that remain unable to achieve credible financial management outcomes.
In Tswaing Local Municipality, approximately R17 million was spent on financial reporting consultants, yet still received a qualified audit opinion with material misstatements. Despite this, the municipality incurred R130.4 million in unauthorised expenditure during the 2024/25 financial year, bringing its cumulative unauthorised expenditure balance to approximately R711 million.
MPL Kodisang further questioned why Bojanala Platinum District Municipality spent R29 million on external consultants for financial statements, yet the quality of the statements regressed, with 12 material line items requiring adjustments.
In Moses Kotane Local Municipality, consultant expenditure included R11.4 million for the preparation of financial statements and a further R9.6 million for asset management services, raising similar concerns about the effectiveness and value of these contracts.
ActionSA maintains that municipalities cannot continue to spend millions on consultants while recurring audit failures, unauthorised expenditure and weak financial controls persist year after year.
ActionSA will continue to use all oversight mechanisms available through the Provincial Legislature and SCOPA to demand accountability, expose wasteful expenditure and ensure that public funds are redirected towards improving service delivery rather than sustaining a cycle of dependency on consultants.