From disclaimer to clean: how Mnquma did it

A scrupulous municipal manager, with buy-in from his mayor, sweated the small stuff — and the large

Turning a consistently errant municipality into a well-run one may be “tedious”, but it can be done.

Take the Mnquma local municipality in the Eastern Cape, an area of 3,270km² about 90km up the coast from East London whose major urban centre is Butterworth.

For nearly two decades until 2018 it was a basket case, with nonexistent service delivery. The municipality’s council and administration were characterised by political squabbles, factional fights over tenders and pervasive corruption.

But five years ago the political leadership elected in 2016 decided enough was enough. They brought in a new municipal manager, Silumko Mahlasela, who’d earned plaudits for turning around Engcobo, another struggling municipality in the province.

Speaking to the FM this week, Mahlasela describes the process of moving from financial statements that were condemned with disclaimers from the auditor-general (AG) to accounts that received a clean audit as a “tedious exercise”.

“But it had to be done. We had to start from the very beginning [and] put systems in place, working closely with the political leadership. We first had to make them understand that we have just one objective, and that is good governance.”

Getting buy-in from the political leadership was key to the turnaround.

Mahlasela and his team started with fixing the human resources and supply chain management processes — the two areas at the heart of corruption in municipalities.

After that, a debt collection policy was instituted. Today the landing page of the Mnquma municipality website urges ratepayers: “Pay your debt.” And they only have to pay half of their historic debt for the arrears to be cancelled.

Mahlasela put policies in place to address irregular, wasteful and fruitless spending, with a strict new consequence management process for wayward officials and councillors.

(It’s a marvel, in fact, that the council functioned at all without such policies in place.)

The council then made sure that it was “seen delivering services”, Mahlasela says.

“We had to prioritise just two areas: infrastructure and local economic development. Our thinking was that delivery impresses people: if they see delivery, they are more inclined to pay for services, which in turn gives the municipality a decent cash flow essential to its running.”

With a steady cash flow, Mahlasela and his team were able to ensure that creditors were paid speedily.

Today, there’s a strict 30-day time frame for paying bills. The finance office reconciles the municipality’s books weekly and monthly, and is fastidious in ensuring that all legally required reports are presented to the council on time.

Consultants are a swear word in the municipality, Mahlasela says — a crutch that many other municipalities lean on far too heavily.

Instead, the finance unit is on top of things, so that when the AG, Tsakani Maluleke, visited with her team, municipal officials could present their financials themselves in a competent way.

This increased accountability means the municipality has taken a hard line against those accused of misconduct and against nonperforming officials.

“In many instances, we had to dismiss them. On the political side too, council took a tough stance,” he says.

It’s a commendable turnaround, and no mean feat in a country where most municipalities seem to be sinking deeper into accounting chaos.

Nor is it easy to stay clean — especially once politicians get involved.

Mahlasela is confident of the support of mayor Tunyiswa Manxila-nkamisa, but some councillors prefer the “old way” of doing things.

The example of Engcobo is cause for pessimism — in 2017, the last year Mahlasela was in charge, the municipality received a clean audit. Since then, it has regressed.

For now, however, Mahlasela is cautiously optimistic that his team will continue to get the political support it needs.

“It is manageable for now,” he says. “All we have to do is hold the line.”

Which, of course, is easier said than done. —