DocumentOngoingNews

Underperforming Municipal Managers Face Chop

GCIS / SAnewsRef: https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/underperforming-municipal-managers-face-chop

Official source

Source domain: sanews.gov.za

Collected on 28 July 2026

Always confirm details on the official source before acting.

What this means

This SAnews news article reports remarks by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Deputy Minister Andries Nel on 24 October 2018. Nel said COGTA is piloting a contract clause allowing municipal managers’ contracts to be terminated if they receive adverse audit outcomes/disclaimer findings, noting that 27 municipalities received repeat disclaimers. The article also discusses audit and governance reforms, including changes to the Public Audit Act giving the Auditor-General remedial and referral powers, and highlights local government performance challenges and the “Back to Basics” programme.

What this document offers

Read out of this document by Govermate's AI, in its own words. Each one quotes the line it came from — confirm on the official source before acting.

contractual risk or performance conditionOngoing

Contract termination for municipal managers with disclaimer audit outcomes

Municipal managers may face termination of their contracts if their municipality receives a disclaimer audit outcome, as part of a pilot clause being introduced by COGTA.

Who it is for: municipal managers in South African municipalities
How to act on it: Compliance with audit standards; no specific application process described

Show the line this came from

Nel on Tuesday announced that Cogta is piloting the insertion of a clause into the contracts of municipal managers for them to be removed in case of disclaimers.

Facts

Places

City of Johannesburg, Gauteng

Reference

https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/underperforming-municipal-managers-face-chop

Amounts

R 3 400 000 000

Key Takeaways

Date of announcement/article: Wednesday, 24 October 2018
Authority: COGTA Deputy Minister Andries Nel
Action proposed: pilot clause to terminate municipal managers’ contracts if disclaimer/adverse audit outcomes occur
Audit finding cited: 27 municipalities received repeat disclaimers
Conference: 'State Capture and its Aftermath - Building Responsiveness through State Reform'
Host: Public Affairs Research Institute at the University of Johannesburg
Public Audit Act amendments: Auditor-General can refer material irregularities and has remedial powers including recovery of money lost
Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) issue: failure to spend MIG allocations is unacceptable
MIG transfers stopped: R3.4 billion (since 2012/13 over five years) reallocated from underspending to better spending municipalities
Capacity constraint: only 55 of 257 municipalities have a qualified engineer
Back to Basics programme: based on five pillars
Senior manager appointments: 423 concluded in 2017/18; 95 interventions for Municipal Systems Act compliance
Disciplinary actions since 2011 Municipal Systems Act amendment: 1,651 dismissed for misconduct; 130 resigned before disciplinary proceedings finalised
Forensic cases: 311 total; 98 in court, 178 under investigation, 35 finalised or withdrawn
Local government transformation: 1,262 apartheid local entities transformed over a decade
Municipal performance assessment: one third functioning well; one third require support; one third dysfunctional/distressed
District/local wall-to-wall system review questions: number of district municipalities (44) and roles/powers/functions
Governance issues cited: high turnover of senior management after elections
Interventions: 58 invoked by eight provinces over past five financial years
Councillors killed since 2012: 52
Protests recorded by end of September 2018: 198 (25 more than in 2017)
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA)
Andries Nel
Auditor-General
Public Audit Act
Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG)
Municipal Systems Act
Public Affairs Research Institute
University of Johannesburg
SAnews