Urgent call for governance reforms by eThekwini Municipality's Audit and Risk Committee

The Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) urged the eThekwini Municipality leadership to ensure that investigators or employees within the City Integrity and Investigations Directorate (CIID) are protected.

The ARC did not elaborate on the issue when it submitted a summary of the fourth-quarter report ending June 2025 at the eThekwini council meeting in October.

The ARC has encouraged municipal leaders to introduce measures to accelerate the finalisation of investigations conducted by the CIID.

In response, City Manager Musa Mbhele stated that a specific committee is being identified to oversee and provide support for the CIID's operations.

Mbhele said the CIID will be invited to the future Executive Committee (EXCO) meetings to present its functions and operations.

The municipality was also urged to play an oversight role, implement governance, and consequence management to achieve the municipal objectives, and prevent losses.

Some of the findings raised by the ARC are:

• Over 35 longstanding items that are 180 days overdue, which compromise the control environment.
• Improvement in the accuracy of the billing of residential credit meters. There are abnormally high-value adjustments to residential customers' bills, with most linked to meter-reading errors.
• The inability to verify the accuracy and completeness of certain stock items at the Energy Management main store during the year-end inventory due to movements and uncounted items.

• The non-timely resolution of water meter reading and billing of meter maintenance issues.
• The need to strengthen the municipal Information and Communication Technology controls to address key weaknesses identified, such as inadequate patch management, delayed disabling of terminated users' access, poorly performed user access reviews, and insufficient monitoring of vendor activities.
• Address the performance management process, including the non-alignment of the Performance Management Rewards with the municipal staff regulations. The absence of the Municipal Moderation Committee, the Individual Performance Plans with performance indicators that do not meet the SMART principle, and the inefficient use of the current Performance Management System.

• Improve the payroll management system and develop comprehensive and viable solutions to address concerns around overtime.
• Lack of follow-up and tracking of municipal council resolutions.
• The design of the Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN) system does not align with the Department of Transport's requirements. The current business design approach does not guarantee employment or improved income for the existing bus and taxi operators.

• Some of the National Treasury Performance Indicators (NTPI) were not achieved in the previous 2024/25 financial year, which are critical to the municipality in the process of grant allocation.
• Delays in concluding the approval option recommended through the Feasibility Study undertaken for the Durban Marine Theme Park (DMTP).

Mbhele stated that all the issues raised by the ARC were being dealt with, adding that the residential credit meters process is now in place to manage meters within the municipal revenue protection branch through the smart service application.

He said that the municipality was also fast-tracking the appointment of a meter reading manager, and they intend to conclude the DMTP issue by December 31, 2025.

“The consultation process for the Durban marine theme park is taking longer than expected due to concerns relating to job security and perceived risk of job losses. We welcome the report from the audit committee and their continued support in highlighting key areas of improvement.

“Support committees must play an effective oversight on the implementation of the audit action plans relevant to their respective oversight departments,” Mbhele said.

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za