North West Treasury steps in as Tswaing works to recover withheld equitable share
The provincial treasury says the municipality must show evidence of corrective action before its July 2026 equitable share allocation is restored.
North West Provincial Treasury has intensified its financial governance support to Tswaing Local Municipality, with officials meeting municipal leaders in Ga-Khunwana to assess progress on compliance matters that affect the municipality’s ability to deliver services.
The technical working session formed part of the provincial government’s Thuntsha Lerole Accelerated Service Delivery Programme and brought together Tswaing officials and the Provincial Executive Representative.
What the intervention covers
The engagement assessed progress on key financial governance and compliance matters affecting the municipality. These included the reconciliation of outstanding debt owed by organs of State, with a particular focus on Section 21 schools.
Officials also reviewed the municipality’s progress in cleansing its financial data to improve the credibility and reliability of its financial information. The session covered compliance with Section 71 and Municipal Standard Chart of Accounts (mSCOA) reporting requirements, and measures to address unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
The municipality’s progress in responding to Section 216 enquiries was also considered as part of broader efforts to strengthen financial governance and restore compliance with applicable local government financial prescripts.
Why the municipality is under scrutiny
Head of Department Ndlela Kunene said Tswaing is among the municipalities affected by National Treasury’s intervention relating to the withholding of the July 2026 Local Government Equitable Share allocation.
He said the intervention requires affected municipalities to address identified financial-management and compliance deficiencies and provide evidence of corrective action.
“Financial-governance intervention recognises that sustainable municipal service delivery depends not only on addressing immediate service-delivery challenges, but also on strengthening the financial and administrative systems that enable municipalities to plan, fund and maintain those services.”
Kunene said the provincial treasury’s intervention complements community-facing activities by addressing financial governance matters that affect the municipality’s institutional capacity to deliver and sustain services.
What happens next
The document published by SAnews states that the intervention requires affected municipalities to provide evidence of corrective action. The record does not state a date for the restoration of the withheld allocation or for a further assessment of Tswaing’s progress.
SAnews is the South African Government News Agency. Its report on the Tswaing engagement is available at https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/nw-treasury-intensifies-support-tswaing-municipality.
Source: SAnews (South African Government News Agency), NW Treasury intensifies support to Tswaing Municipality.
