Renosterberg: Council Dissolved — Eskom Debt Up from R1.5m to R89m, No Financial Statements, No CFO, No Council Meetings

R89 million (Eskom debt, NC Coghsta to NCOP)

documented loss

Renosterberg, a Northern Cape municipality of three Karoo towns, failed to submit annual financial statements or monthly reports, held no council meetings, had no CFO, technical manager or audit structures, left medical-aid and UIF deductions unpaid and rejected a Treasury-appointed financial expert, while its Eskom debt grew from R1.5 million to R89 million in a decade. The NCOP approved dissolution on 3 September 2020.

The Record The Evidence What Was Lost Implicated Institutions The Paper Trail

The Record

Renosterberg Local Municipality serves Petrusville, Philipstown and Vanderkloof on the Orange River. On 2 September 2020 the Northern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance told the NCOP Select Committee that the municipality had not submitted annual financial statements or MFMA section 71 reports, had not held council meetings as the Structures Act requires, had no chief financial officer, no technical manager, no public accounts committee and no disciplinary board, had no adopted recovery plan, and had left third-party deductions for medical aid and UIF unpaid. Its debt to Eskom had risen from R1.5 million to R89 million in ten years. It had rejected a financial expert appointed by National Treasury. The municipality did not attend the hearing.

The committee found Renosterberg unable to achieve the objects of local government under section 152 of the Constitution and on 3 September 2020 approved its dissolution under sections 139(1)(c) and 139(5); only the DA opposed, arguing Eskom payments had been current since a new municipal manager's appointment in January 2020, a claim the province said it had no record of. An administrator ran the municipality until the 2021 election.