The Democratic Alliance (DA) will ask the Auditor General (AG) to investigate worsening irregular expenditure in Gamagara, as the municipality demonstrates zero political will to ensure transparency and accountability in the expenditure of public money.
At the end of June this year, the ANC-EFF led Council decided to push ahead with a write-off of R1.6 billion irregular, fruitless and wasteful, and unauthorised expenditure incurred over the past 10 years. This was done without any verifiable supporting documentation. To date, promises by Gamagara to convene a workshop to scrutinise the amounts written-off, have also not materialized.
Meanwhile, Gamagara continues to show complete disregard for procurement laws and the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), with the Irregular Expenditure Register for 2024–2025, dated June 2025, revealing that more than R7.1 million in irregular expenditure was incurred for this period.
Even more concerning is that analysis of the register shows that the same service providers continue receiving payments irregularly, with their entries accounting for over R5 million of the newly incurred irregular expenditure. This includes:
• R2.18 million paid to a Legal Advisory Service with no competitive bidding process;
• R880 000 paid to a meter reading company under irregular conditions;
• R2,63 million paid to a prepaid water meter company, despite the awarded contracts exceeding the allowable 15% extension limit set by Treasury Circular 62; and
• An auditing company appointed despite another bidder having scored higher during the tender process.
The ongoing pattern, whereby millions of rands are written off without any accountability and irregular practices continue unchecked, while basic services remain underfunded, must be broken.
The DA is requesting the AG to institute a special audit investigation into irregular expenditure since 2024, with specific focus on repeat service providers and unlawful contract extensions. We will further continue to insist that the four-month overdue oversight workshop on irregular expenditure be convened and that consequence management is applied. We will also submit a motion calling for further write-offs to be suspended until all transactions have been properly scrutinized.
Gamagara residents deserve a municipality that respects the law and safeguards public funds, not one that shields irregular spending and connected cronies.