The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, will conduct a joint oversight visit to KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) from 27 to 30 January 2026 to engage with municipalities that have been identified by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) as distressed or dysfunctional.
The oversight visit follows a briefing by the AGSA on the 2023–2024 local government audit outcomes, which highlighted a persistent trend of poor audit results across municipalities. According to the AGSA, only 41 municipalities (16%) achieved clean audits.
While 59 municipalities have shown improvement in their audit outcomes since the 2020–21 financial year, 40 municipalities have regressed. In addition, 13 municipalities failed to submit their financial statements and performance reports for auditing by the legislated deadline.
During the oversight visit, the committees will also receive presentations from national and provincial AGSA representatives.
The visit will provide the committees with an opportunity to ascertain the underlying challenges contributing to poor audit outcomes and governance failures; assess the effectiveness of existing interventions and support measures; engage with provincial leadership on their role in enforcing accountability; and explore how intergovernmental relations structures can be strengthened to support municipalities in addressing challenges and improving service delivery to communities.
Tuesday, 27 January 2026:
The committees will receive briefings from provincial leadership, including the Premier, Mr Thami Ntuli, the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the MEC for Finance. This will be followed by engagements with executive mayors, Speakers, municipal managers, and chief financial officers from the following municipalities:
* Mandeni Local Municipality
* Mpofana Local Municipality
* Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality
* Umzumbe Local Municipality
* eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality
Wednesday, 28 January 2026:
The committee will engage with executive mayors, Speakers, municipal managers, and chief financial officers from:
* Ugu District Municipality
* Amajuba District Municipality
* Newcastle Local Municipality
* uThukela District Municipality
* Umkhanyakude District Municipality
* Mtubatuba Local Municipality
* Umzinyathi District Municipality
Thursday, 29 January 2026:
Engagements will be held with:
* Endumeni Local Municipality
* Nongoma Local Municipality
* Nquthu Local Municipality
* Msunduzi Local Municipality
* Mhlathuze Local Municipality
* Impendle Local Municipality
Friday, 30 January 2026:
The committee will conclude the oversight visit with engagements with the Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma District Municipality and traditional leadership.
Africa Fact: Concerning these old manuscripts, Michael Palin, in his TV series Sahara, said the imam of Timbuktu “has a collection of
scientific texts that clearly show the planets circling the sun. They date back hundreds of years . . . Its convincing evidence that the scholars of Timbuktu knew a lot more than their counterparts in Europe. In the fifteenth century in Timbuktu the mathematicians knew about the rotation of the planets, knew about the details of the eclipse, they knew things which we had to wait for 150 almost 200 years to know in Europe when Galileo and Copernicus came up with these same calculations and were given a very hard time for it.”
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Fun South African Fact: In the Cape Wineland region, you’ll discover the stunning towns of Franschhoek, Stellenbosch and Paarl. This region is home to many award-winning wine estates that produce incredible varieties and vintages year in and year out. South Africa’s wine country is home to more than 500 registered wineries. While exploring these vineyards and estates, be sure to sample some Pinotage, South Africa’s signature variety!
Fuzzy Rainbow
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