Joburg’s R45.16bn write-off a wake-up call for financial accountability

The City of Johannesburg and its municipal entities have written off R45.16 billion in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful (UIFW) expenditure over the past five years, the municipality told Parliament on Tuesday. The figures were presented at a joint meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) and the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

Where the figures come from

Parliamentary figures show that the municipality regularised or wrote off R24.46bn in UIFW expenditure in 2024/25, R11.48bn in 2023/24 and R5.74bn in 2022/23. The city told the committees the peak balance of UIFW expenditure was R23.6bn in the 2023/24 financial year and that a post-audit balance of R13.3bn remained at the end of June last year a reduction the municipality described as almost 44%.

Current-year monitoring and investigations

The municipality said the FY2024/25 balance shows a significant reduction in unauthorised and fruitless or wasteful expenditure, while irregular expenditure still requires sustained supply chain and contract management controls. For the 2025/26 financial year the City of Joburg reported an opening UIFW balance of R13.3bn and in‑year declarations of R3.63bn up to the end of March.

It told the committees that R6.71bn had already been investigated and was pending submission to council and entities’ boards for approval after processing by the municipal public accounts committee (MPAC) and entities’ audit and risk committees, while another R7.58bn was under investigation.

Regularisation, accountability and recovery

The municipality emphasised that regularisation does not remove accountability but resolves the accounting treatment after investigation, and that where indicators of misconduct remain matters must proceed to disciplinary boards or law enforcement.

“What has happened is that MPAC provided us with a framework for an investigation of each UIFW and they would then consider whether there have been benefits realised by the city and if there is benefit and there is no associated financial loss, as a result that UIFW loss gets written off,”

said City of Joburg head of Group Forensic and Investigation Services Sinaye Nxumalo.

“It is not necessarily writing off a debt that would have been owed by another person, it is simply to say: ‘we have considered this, the work was rendered [and] the city did realise benefit and therefore it gets written off’,”

she said.

Nxumalo told the committees the municipality had moved away from the phrase “written-off” or “debt write-off” and now used the term regularisation, and that the process was allowed in law. She explained that MPAC follows a framework for investigations and will recommend to council accordingly, and that where there is financial loss MPAC will make the necessary recommendation.

Recoveries and practical limits

MPAC chairperson and EFF councillor Sepetlele Raseruthe told the committees the committee had so far recommended the recovery of R350 million. He said MPAC considers cost-benefit analysis before pursuing recoveries but emphasised the committee’s preference for recovery.

Raseruthe added that dealing with historic UIFW expenditure often involves pursuing officials who are no longer employed by the city or who are deceased, and that this frequently limits recovery prospects.

Accountability concerns

Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero told the committees the sharp decline in the recovery of fruitless and wasteful expenditure from responsible parties raised accountability concerns.

What the city is doing

• The municipality said it has shifted the UIFW pipeline from passive disclosure to active investigation, submission and regularisation stages.
• A group risk and assurance services‑led task team monitors declarations, investigations and regularisation.
• Investigated matters are processed by MPAC and entities’ audit and risk committees before submission to council and entities’ boards for approval.

The municipality presented these details during the joint committee meeting on Tuesday.