eThekwini Municipality sees significant improvements in audit findings for 2024/25
The eThekwini Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) praised a positive trend in the audit findings reported by the Auditor-General for the 2024/2025 financial year. The municipality’s Finance Portfolio Committee (FPC) received a report on the progress made regarding internal and external audit findings as of December 21, 2025 the previous year.
The eThekwini Municipality’s Audit Risk and Advisory Services (EMARAS) is also working in pursuit of effective leadership and good governance, including sound and clean financial administration. The Deputy Chairperson of MPAC, Councillor Conrad Dlamini, stated that the audit findings decreased from 20 in the previous financial year to 13 in 2024/25. He said this reflected improved governance, strengthened oversight, and a growing commitment to accountability and compliance with regulatory requirements. “This demonstrates that corrective actions implemented by the municipality are yielding positive results, contributing to a more robust control environment. It lays a strong foundation for improved financial management, service delivery, and overall organisational performance,” he said. According to Dlamini, key improvements include clearer assignment of responsibilities, increased responsiveness by management to both internal and external audit recommendations, and enhanced monitoring of internal controls.
“In line with the Auditor-General’s recommendation to address unauthorised, irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure decisively, the committee also considered several of these matters.”
The municipality has demonstrated dignity in improving the eThekwini region’s spending practices. In this way, it can better track its priorities and responsibilities as a local administration. Mayor Cyril Xaba can be proud of this accomplishment; however, it remains to be seen whether the eThekwini Council can continue to keep corruption to a minimum. Municipal governance power must always be exercised in the service of the locality’s residents. No stone can be left unturned in improving the desirability of Durban Metro and the surrounding area as a whole. Transparency and accountability should be daily practices.
The work of the municipality involves extensive management, but it must strive to make the city a hub of excellence to improve employment prospects. Corruption cannot be allowed to take hold, and the focus should remain on strengthening both the city’s economy and its security.
The municipality still faces a herculean task in ensuring efficiency, transparency, and accountability in its services to the people of eThekwini. The city must also prioritize improving the quality of its drinking water, as we are already facing a crisis in this regard.
MILLIONS of litres of treated drinking water are lost daily, while eThekwini residents endure dry taps for weeks, queue for water tankers, or go without. The losses are not only due to leaks and burst pipes – they are also due to theft, illegal connections, faulty meters, billing failures and infrastructure collapse. With only about 40% of water billed, the system is clearly not working. What these losses mean is less revenue to fix pipes, maintain infrastructure and deliver reliable services – trapping residents in a cycle of breakdown and frustration. This is why the Democratic Alliance (DA) has tabled a formal motion in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Legislature calling on CoGTA MEC, Thulasizwe Buthelezi to ensure;
- A full audit on non-revenue water
- A review of the water turnaround strategy and;
- The submission of a comprehensive report to both the KZN Legislature and the province’s CoGTA portfolio committee, for the purposes of oversight.
The water crisis casts an appalling shadow over the administrative actions of the eThekwini Municipality. Crime has become such a threat that it is undermining key infrastructure. This is a crisis that both the municipality and the provincial administration of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) must tackle. Cooperation between local and provincial police is essential.
This is why concerned opposition parties, such as the KZN branch of the DA, have put forward the previously mentioned motion to the Provincial Legislature’s Committee on Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), calling for a plan to improve water conditions in eThekwini. The municipality must clean up its act in the interests of the greater metro. It is humiliating that the eThekwini region has allowed its citizens to queue for water at dry taps.
- The eThekwini Municipality must become more transparent in improving water distribution, and this should be discussed by the eThekwini Council.
- A plan to improve the quality of water in the region must be devised, and education on rainwater collection and the boiling of water should be promoted.
- The municipality must cooperate closely with the KZN provincial administration, the legislature, and the CoGTA portfolio committee to find an equitable solution for the locality as a whole.
eThekwini has found itself in need of fresh leadership for the locality. The concerned metro will participate in local elections this year. Whom residents vote for will be the determining factor in the municipality’s future.
Article written by:
Yacoob Cassim
Journalist at Radio Al Ansaar
