The Kannaland Local Municipality in the Western Cape has received disclaimed audits for four years in a row. News24 reported that it remains the worst-performing municipality in the province.
A disclaimed audit means the Auditor-General cannot say where the municipality’s money went. The municipality serves 6,333 households in Ladismith, Calitzdorp and nearby farming areas.
“Residents and businesses do not receive appropriate essential services from the municipality,” the Auditor-General said in its latest report on local government audits.
The report listed poor roads, unfinished wastewater treatment works and poor management of the landfill site. The Auditor-General also issued five material irregularity notices against the municipality.
Kannaland has been run by unstable coalitions since the last local elections. Icosa won three seats, the ANC two, and the DA and the Kannaland Independent Party one each.
An Icosa and ANC coalition first reinstalled Jeffrey Donson as mayor, News24 reported. Donson is a convicted child rapist. That coalition later collapsed.
Donson later returned as mayor with support from the Kannaland Independent Party, according to News24.
The Western Cape government has tried to intervene in Kannaland over the years. The latest step is a Section 139(5) intervention. It lets the province draft a mandatory financial plan to fix the budget and restore services.
Martin Gelderblom, a former Ladismith councillor and mayor, said the town’s water system shows how oversight has failed. He said about R10 million was spent on the water system around 20 years ago.
“At one point, all of them were out of operation. The solar panels were stolen, the wires were stolen,” Gelderblom said of the town’s boreholes.
He said municipal tariffs were becoming unaffordable for businesses. “Ladismith cheese and Parmalat are already in the process of possibly wanting to move,” he said.
Residents also described potholed roads and a lack of jobs. “The roads are trashed. Look at the state of the place,” jobseeker Edward Botha, 28, told News24.
The Ladismith Tourism Bureau now runs as a non-profit organisation after the municipality stopped funding it. Tourism manager Carl Swart said more visitors would help local businesses pay rates and taxes.
Kannaland residents will vote in the upcoming local government elections. Gelderblom said more people were now putting themselves forward as candidates. “We will see after 4 November,” he said.
Source: this article is based on reporting by news24.com. Image: news24.com. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.