The DA has reported the municipal managers of Makana and Sundays River Valley to the police over years of questionable audit findings, millions of rand in alleged irregular expenditure and failure to tackle persistent sewage and environmental problems.
DA parliamentary leader and MP George Michalakis submitted affidavits to the police earlier this week, calling for investigations into Makana municipal manager Pumelelo Kate and Sundays River Valley municipal manager Thabiso Klaas.
In the affidavit concerning Makana, Michalakis said the municipality received a disclaimer audit outcome for seven consecutive financial years.
A disclaimer indicates that the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) was unable to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence to determine whether financial statements were fairly presented.
The affidavit alleges Makana incurred about R66m in unauthorised expenditure and R15.2m in wasteful expenditure.
The affidavit also refers to 42 findings of immaterial non-compliance with legislation and material procurement findings, including bids not being advertised, quotations not being obtained from registered or accredited suppliers and missing contract documentation.
Michalakis further alleged that AGSA could not determine whether infrastructure grant money had been used for its intended purposes.
The affidavit states that Makana has had three material irregularities since 2019 relating to internal controls, a landfill and a wastewater treatment plant.
Michalakis alleges that Kate failed to take appropriate action after being notified of material irregularities involving the landfill and wastewater treatment works, and failed to implement previous audit recommendations and remedial action.
The affidavit also refers to a criminal complaint opened at the Makhanda police station on March 27 2025 concerning alleged violations of the National Water Act and the threat of raw sewage polluting a water resource.
A separate affidavit by Makana DA ward councillor and caucus whip Carlynn Clark alleges that the sewage problem is continuing.
Clark says that during an oversight visit to the Belmont Valley Wastewater Treatment Works on March 21 2025, the plant was totally dysfunctional, with raw sewage flowing into the Kowie River.
She also alleges that the Mayfield wastewater treatment works is dysfunctional and that the Belmont refurbishment would not provide sufficient capacity to deal with the volume of effluent.
Clark said that she repeatedly raised the problems with Makana officials, including Kate, the mayor and speaker, as well as the department of water and sanitation and the South African Human Rights Commission.
She further alleged that breaks in sewage and water lines had resulted in cross-contamination of sewage into drinking water.
Clark received assistance from Rhodes University to conduct water testing and escalated the matter to the Eastern Cape co-operative governance department and Sarah Baartman District Municipality.
She is seeking criminal charges against Kate and the municipality under the National Water Act and National Environmental Management Act over the alleged pollution of the Kowie River.
The third affidavit concerns the Sundays River Valley municipality where Michalakis is seeking an investigation into Klaas.
According to the affidavit, Sundays River Valley has also received disclaimed audit opinions for seven consecutive years.
The AGSA reportedly identified five material irregularities, two of which allegedly caused hardship to the public and three were harmful to the municipality.
Two material irregularities relate to the alleged mismanagement of landfill sites that have polluted public spaces.
The AGSA flagged one in March 2024, but Michalakis said that no action had been taken to resolve it.
The affidavit also alleges that the municipality’s financial statements contained unconfirmed and incorrect amounts relating to assets, revenue and unauthorised, irregular and wasteful expenditure.
Sundays River Valley allegedly adopted unfunded budgets and incurred R7.87m in wasteful expenditure during the financial year under review.
The affidavit also refers to 23 material findings of non-compliance with legislation, including failures to follow competitive bidding processes and awards to suppliers allegedly owned or managed by state officials.
Michalakis alleges that risks of fraud were reported to the accounting officer, while the AGSA was also hindered in its audit because required information and supporting documentation were not provided.
He also alleged that the accounting officer was named as one of the causes of the municipality’s problems, with slow responses to material irregularities, failures to implement audit recommendations and audit action plans, and staffing problems.
Michalakis argued that the failures potentially constituted offences under Section 173(1) of the Municipal Finance Management Act, which provides for criminal offences where an accounting officer deliberately or through gross negligence fails to comply with specified financial management obligations.
He has asked police to investigate both matters and take appropriate action.
Makana municipal spokesperson Anele Mjekula could not be reached for comment.
Sundays River Valley mayor Solethu Lucas said the municipality had noted that criminal complaints were to be laid against the municipal manager.
“The municipality disputes the allegation that the current municipal manager personally failed to account for public funds,” Lucas said.
“The municipality is not aware of any report or finding supporting such an allegation.
“Instead, the municipal manager, as the accounting officer, tabled reports to council with recommendations for internal disciplinary processes and criminal investigations on irregular supply chain management transgressions.
“The matters are currently under investigation by the Hawks.
“At this stage, neither the municipality nor the municipal manager is in a position to comment on the substance of charges that have reportedly been or are intended to be laid, particularly where the details and basis of such charges have not formally been presented to any structure of council.
“The municipality does, however, wish to emphasise that the laying of a criminal charge constitutes an allegation by the complainant and therefore should not be construed as a finding of wrongdoing.
“The municipality disputes any general suggestion that there has been a deliberate failure to account for public funds.
“The municipality acknowledges that it has experienced significant historical financial management and audit challenges, which are reflected in previous audit outcomes.
“These matters are being addressed through various financial recovery, audit improvement, reconciliation, corrective accounting and consequence management processes.
“Many of these challenges predate the tenure of the current municipal manager, who joined the municipality in January 2023.
“The municipality’s adverse audit outcomes extend back more than a decade. The poor audit outcomes date back more than 10 years.
“Where specific allegations of misconduct are made, they must be considered on their individual merits and through the appropriate investigative and legal processes.
“The municipal manager will co-operate with any lawful investigation should he be required to do so.
“It would, therefore, be inappropriate to pronounce on the merits of any criminal complaint before the relevant authorities have considered the allegations and allowed the affected parties to respond.
“The municipality remains committed to transparency, accountability and the proper management of public resources.”
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