Mbombela – Most senior Mpumalanga municipal officials do not comply with the minimum requirements to hold their positions, the DA said on Monday.

“Not one Mpumalanga municipality has both a municipal manager (MM) and chief financial officer (CFO) who complies with minimum competency guidelines as set down by National Treasury,” Democratic Alliance Member of the Provincial Legislature James Masango said.

“[This is] despite threats by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan that all non-compliant personnel would have been removed more than 10 months ago.”

Masango said the incompetence was revealed in a written response by co-operative governance MEC Simon Skhosana.

“Skhosana stated that only Mbombela’s MM complied with treasury’s minimum competency requirements for municipal managers, while only the CFOs of Chief Albert Luthuli and Lekwa complied as set down for those,” Masango said.

All the Mpumalanga municipalities, except Mbombela, had applied for an extension to get their compliance in order.

Masango said the incompetence within the municipalities had contributed to poor service delivery. He alleged corruption and a lack of accountability was common in most of the municipalities.

– SAPA