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MethodologyCorrectionsBuilt with evidence, not opinions.
  1. Municipalities
  2. Merafong City

Under intervention

Section 139(5) — dissolution

FRP under implementation

Gauteng Provincial Government · since 01 Jul 2022 (50+ months) · source

Local Municipality

Merafong City

R70.0 million

Total value of 1 documented incidents

GP · CarletonvilleGT484

West Rand District Municipality

Category

Local Municipality

Province

GP

Documented incidents

1

Seat

Carletonville

  • Score
  • Incidents
  • Leadership
  • Demographics
  • Water
  • Politics
  • Grants
  • Tenders
  • Trajectory
  • Financials
  • Budget
  • Debtors
  • Irregularities
Accountability IndexDraft

Composite 0–100 score (higher = better), from audit opinion, capex execution and linked incidents.

0/ 100Strained
Audit67%
50/100qualified
Capex—
n/acapex data not yet available
Incidents33%
80/1001 incident on record

Missing components (capex) excluded; remaining weights renormalised.

Linked incidents

Corruption incidents documented in the 4FactSake archive and linked to this municipality.

Municipal Collapse2005

Khutsong: The Cross-Boundary Municipality Crisis

DocumentedMbeki EraNo Action

R70 million+

Leadership

Current municipal officials accountable for governance and finance, sourced from National Treasury.

Mayor

N Best

nbest@merafong.gov.za

Municipal Manager

Mr Dumisani Donald Mabuza (Municipal Manage

dmabuza@merafong.gov.za

Chief Financial Officer

Ms Palesa Mikateko Makhubela (CFO)

pmakhubela@merafong.gov.za

Speaker

Mr TE Mphithikezi

te Mphithikezi@merafong.go.za
Demographics — Census 2022

Per-capita normalisation lets us put the financial figures into human terms.

Population

225 476

Households

88 927

Unemployment

27.2%

Electricity98.1%
Piped water95.9%
Flush toilet94.1%
Refuse collected82.3%

Documented exposure: R310 per resident

Water — Blue / Green / No Drop

DWS scores measure Water Service Authorities. This local muni delegates water services to its district.

Water service is provided by West Rand District Municipality. See that page for Blue / Green / No Drop scores.
Conditional grants (Treasury)

National + provincial grants flowing to this muni. Conditional grants are tied to specific outcomes — underspend is a red flag for delivery, not a saving.

Latest year

23/24

Adjusted budget

R188.1M

Actually spent

R133.0M

Unspent

R55.1M

Utilisation

70.7%Underspent

R133M spent
R55M unspent
71% spent29% unspent

Largest conditional grants — box size = budget, colour = utilisation

Box size = budget · colour = utilisation (green = spent, red = underspent, hollow = no data). Hover a grant.

Equitable Share (unconditional)

ESG·Local Government Equitable Share
no data
R285.1M budgeted·— spent

ESG is not a conditional grant — it can be spent at the muni's discretion. Shown for scale only.

Tender awards (eTender Publication Portal)

Cross-referenced against the Restricted Suppliers List on the award date.

No award notices on file for this municipality yet. Coverage expands as the operator transcribes from eTenders.gov.za.

Once awards are loaded, this panel surfaces every published contract awarded by the muni, with B-BBEE level, supplier registration, and a flag for any awards made to suppliers on the National Restricted Suppliers List.

Accountability trajectory · 2020 – 2026

The line traces the audit opinion (higher = cleaner); bars are irregular/fruitless/unauthorised expenditure, dots are documented incidents, and dashed markers are Section 139 interventions. Sustained decline rarely happens in a single bad year.

R349MR699MR1.0BR1.4B2020 UIFW · R84M · irregular R36M · fruitless R48M2021 UIFW · R80M · irregular R34M · fruitless R46M2022 UIFW · R123M · irregular R49M · fruitless R74M2023 UIFW · R419M · irregular R280M · fruitless R138M2024 UIFW · R1.4B · irregular R209M · fruitless R158M · unauthorised R1.0B2020 audit · Clean (with caveat)2021 audit · Adverse2022 audit · Disclaimer2023 audit · Disclaimer2024 audit · QualifiedS1392022 · Section 139 imposed · FRP under implementation2020202120222023202420252026Clean auditQualifiedDisclaimer / adverseUIFW expenditure (bars)Documented incidentsSection 139 imposed

Audit opinion has degraded from Clean (with caveat) (2020) to Qualified (2024).

Financial Health — FY24/25

Cash position, solvency, and infrastructure-maintenance signal. Source: National Treasury cflow_v2 + financial_position_v2 + repmaint_v2.

Cash on hand

R82.0M

Net assets

R1.58B

Operating cash flow

—

Repairs & maintenance

R30.7M

National Treasury & AGSA

Public finance data ingested directly from National Treasury cubes (incexp_v2, capital_v2, audit_opinions, uifwexp).

Latest Audit Outcome — FY23/24

Qualified

Irregular
R209.2M
Fruitless
R157.8M
Unauthorised
R1.03B
AGSA report

Capital Spending — FY25/26

Original budgetR316.0M
Adjusted budgetR335.2M
Actual—

Treasury §71·76d agoTreasury MTREF·12d agoAGSA MFMA·today

Aged Balances — FY24/25

Receivables from ratepayers (debtors) and amounts owed to suppliers (creditors). Source: National Treasury aged_debtor_v2 + aged_creditor_v2 cubes.

Owed TO the muni (receivables)

R6.38B

R5.40B (85%) over 1 year — effectively uncollectable

Water
R1.42B
Electricity
R94.0M
Property rates
R728.2M

Owed BY the muni (creditors)

R2.95B

Bulk electricity(Eskom)
R1.40B
Bulk water
R1.41B
Trade
R121.0M
AGSA Material Irregularities

Section 4(3) MI register — specific findings the Auditor-General has flagged for active investigation, recommendations, or referral to law enforcement.

6 material irregularities on record

Material financial loss — notified 2021-12-15

Resolved

FY24/25

AGSA action:Resolved MI / Resolved in prior periods

Source

Likely substantial harm to general public — notified 2023-05-23

Unresolved

FY24/25

AGSA action:Appropriate action not taken - Decision on Invoking powers in process / Not appropriate action - submission to MIU in process

Source

Likely substantial harm to public sector institution — notified 2024-01-31

Resolved

FY24/25

AGSA action:Resolved MI / Resolved in prior periods

Source

Likely substantial harm to general public — notified 2024-07-11

Recommendations Made

FY24/25

AGSA action:Appropriate action being taken to resolve MI / Appropriate actions - follow-up not yet due

Source

Likely material financial loss — notified 2023-05-18

Resolved

FY24/25

AGSA action:Resolved MI / Resolved in prior periods

Source

Likely material financial loss — notified 2021-12-15

Resolved

FY24/25

AGSA action:Resolved MI / Resolved in prior periods

Source

Methodology & sources

Live data from National Treasury cubes (incexp_v2, capital_v2, audit_opinions, uifwexp, aged_debtor_v2, aged_creditor_v2, cflow_v2, financial_position_v2, repmaint_v2, officials) and operator-curated AGSA Section 4(3) Material Irregularities, Stats SA Census, Cogta Section 139 intervention records, DWS Blue / Green / No Drop water-services audits, IEC Local Government Election results + political control history, and Treasury conditional grants (grants_v2) — allocation versus actual spend per grant. The Accountability Index methodology is a draft pending sensitivity testing — treat the score as a working signal, not a final verdict. It currently weighs three of four intended signals — audit opinion (50%), capital-budget execution (25%) and linked corruption incidents (25%); a fourth pillar, service delivery (Stats SA non-financial census), is not yet wired in. Where a signal is missing for a municipality, its weight is renormalised across the rest.