Cadre deployment in North West leads to R417 million in wasted expenditure – AfriForum calls for investigation
According to AfriForum, the excessively high spending on consultants by municipalities in North West is the direct result of persistent cadre deployment at the local government level. The civil rights organisation is therefore calling for an immediate independent investigation into the R416 million spent on consultants by North West municipalities.
The Auditor-General’s (AG) latest report on South African municipalities reveals a worrying reliance on consultants, with R1,61 billion spent on consultants nationwide during the 2024/2025 financial year. However, the use of consultants by municipalities in North West is by far the highest. In this province alone, R416,59 million was spent on consultants – approximately ten times more than in the Western Cape and more than a quarter of the total expenditure across all nine provinces.
In light of these findings by the AG, AfriForum calls upon Lazarus Kagiso Mokgosi, the Premier of North West, to intervene urgently to address the financial mismanagement in the province – where not a single municipality managed to achieve a clean audit. The organisation also insists that the AG, the Public Protector (PP), the National Treasury, and Velenkosini Hlabisa, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), investigate this squandering of taxpayers’ money and the persistent poor municipal management in the province.
In a letter sent today (10 July) to the Premier, the AG, the PP, and the Minister, AfriForum insists, among other things, that –
- an independent forensic investigation be conducted into spending on consultants;
- all relevant consultants, contracts, and related reports be made public;
- it be determined whether the expenditure on consultants constitutes irregular, fruitless, or wasteful expenditure in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act;
- intervention take place, in accordance with the Constitution, regarding municipalities that repeatedly fail to fulfil their constitutional responsibilities; and
- a full breakdown be provided of the qualifications, experience, and annual salaries of all personnel employed in each of the respective municipalities’ finance units.
According to Jaco Grobbelaar, AfriForum’s Head for the Central Region, the expenditure on consultants was clearly a blatant waste of taxpayers’ money. “Due to the massive shortage of financial skills and vacancies, each of the province’s 22 municipalities appointed financial consultants to do the work. Despite this spending, all municipalities in the province submitted financial statements containing material misstatements in the very areas for which the consultants were appointed,” Grobbelaar explains.
According to the AG report, consultant costs in North West nearly doubled from R257,53 million in 2020/2021 to R416,59 million in 2024/2025. In addition to spending on consultants, the province’s municipalities spent an extra R691,24 million on their financial units. “The province’s municipalities therefore continued to deliver poor results, despite an investment of more than R1,1 billion in financial consultants and financial units,” says Grobbelaar.
He maintains that this waste can be attributed to the continued appointment of incompetent cadres. The AG report itself shows that consultants were appointed in provinces across the country due to a lack of skills (53%), a combination of skills shortages and vacancies (41%), and vacancies (6%).
“What the AG report has exposed points not merely to an isolated financial failure, but to the predictable consequence of years of cadre deployment, where political loyalty was deemed more important than expertise and competence. Cadre deployment leads to more than just poor management; it deprives communities of their constitutional right to basic services and dignified living conditions. As long as incompetent political appointments are prioritised over merit, the country’s municipalities will continue to deteriorate, and residents will pay the price,” says Grobbelaar.
“The time for excuses is over. The residents of North West have borne the consequences of political appointments and incompetent management for long enough. Communities deserve competent, professional, and accountable municipal management – not more reports, more consultants, and more squandering of taxpayers’ money,” Grobbelaar concludes.
Add your voice to AfriForum’s fight against cadre deployment
The ongoing deterioration of municipal infrastructure and the squandering of public funds are the direct results of poor management and a lack of accountability. Support AfriForum’s fight against cadre deployment and incompetent municipal management here.
