Madibeng Municipality blamed leader instability, breakdown of record-keeping, and poor collection rates, among other things, for the municipality’s poor performance when the Madibeng leadership appeared before the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs last week.

Madibeng Municipality’s acting CFO Siza Rikhotso, Municipal Manager Quiet Kgatla, Mayor Douglas Maimane and Speaker Ditshego Mbezi before the parliament committees last week.

The municipality was grilled by the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, and the Standing Committee on the Auditor General.
During the meeting, Madibeng speaker Ditshego Mbezi admitted that the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC), the body tasked with investigating unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, had failed to conduct investigations for four years. Mbezi was lambasted by the Co-operative governance and traditional affairs portfolio committee chairperson, Zweli Mkhize. He told her that she had been the Speaker for the past four years and had admitted that the Municipal Public Accounts Committee MPAC, the body tasked with investigating unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, had failed to conduct investigations for four years.
“You are saying that you are helpless after four years as Speaker, and that the MPAC is not working. I have asked you to explain where the problem is, and after talking for 10 minutes, I still don’t know what is going on,” Mkhize told her. “Investigations have never been done.”
Mkhize also grilled Madibeng mayor Douglas Maimane about the investigations. Maimane initially said the investigations were discussed during a council meeting on 28 August and were done. “Investigations completed in two weeks… that is the quickest investigation we have heard of so far,” a committee member remarked. Maimane then reiterated that it only started on 28 August 2025.
Municipal Manager, Quiet Kgatla was confronted with Madibeng’s reliance on consultants that has ballooned to R45.12 million. “Consultants are working in finance and other departments. We need to get our skills capacity up to speed,” Kgatla said. “Over time, we need to get rid of these consultants. Their contracts are capped at three years to allow for skills transfer and we expect our officials to learn and take over those functions.”
Kgatla told the committee that investigations are currently underway in his own office and that all transactions over the past three years are being scrutinised.
He was questioned about payments of R12 million in December 2024 for four security services. Kgatla said it was necessary to prioritise payments for the security services to safeguard municipal infrastructure while the municipal offices were closed. “Another format of looting in municipalities are security services, water tankers and municipal yellow fleets where most corruption takes place,” Madibeng was told.
The municipality was also scolded for their massive debts to Eskom and water boards, and that the National Treasury had withdrawn a debt relief programme from Madibeng because of the municipality’s non-compliance. Mkhize told them that the withdrawal meant the municipality was not cooperative. Mkhize also wanted to know why the municipal council had approved an unfunded budget.
The delegation has directed MECs to closely monitor council decisions, ensure that investigations into maladministration are completed, and intervene decisively where councils fail to act. Detailed reports, including timelines and measurable targets, must be submitted to Parliament and the provincial legislature. The committees warned that continued non-compliance would trigger further interventions.
“Parliament will continue to monitor developments in the North West municipalities, and the delegation has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that consequence management is enforced and that communities receive the services and stability to which they are entitled,” Mkhize said.