DE AAR, Northern Cape — The Emthanjeni Local Municipality is facing mounting criticism over a staggering R100 million overspending and ongoing service delivery failures in De Aar, Northern Cape. While residents endure daily water and electricity shortages, Mayor Lulamile Nkumbi has defended the municipality’s financial record, pointing to geographical isolation and revenue collection hurdles as primary drivers of the crisis.
According to recent findings by the Auditor General, the municipality has failed to secure a clean audit for the past four consecutive years. The audit revealed that fruitless and wasteful expenditure currently sits at 40%, representing more than R25 million of the budget. Despite the scale of the financial mismanagement, the municipality has reportedly taken no disciplinary action against any employees, nor have any criminal investigations been initiated regarding the overspending.
Addressing the financial shortfall, Mayor Lulamile Nkumbi explained that the municipality’s revenue is heavily dependent on the payment of municipal services by residents.
“We have a challenge of not being able to collect enough money to deal with our service delivery mandatory programs to maintain the roads and maintain our infrastructure,” Mayor Nkumbi stated. He further suggested that the high rate of wasteful expenditure is linked to the municipality having very few procurement options due to its remote location, which inherently drives up the cost of products and services needed to maintain the area.
However, this explanation has done little to assuage the frustrations of locals who face deteriorating living conditions daily. De Aar resident Sandile Makhandula highlighted the severe breakdown of basic services, pointing to a persistent water crisis, rampant water leakages, and an unstable electricity supply that cuts out even during windy conditions.
“There is no proper infrastructure, and the informal segment needs to be formalized,” Makhandula said, adding that the roads are highly unsafe and riddled with potholes. “The infrastructure is very bad.”
Echoing these sentiments, resident Siphiwe Skhosana described the dire reality of living in the region without fundamental amenities. “We stay in the desert. We don’t have toilets, water, or electricity,” Skhosana said. “We have been complaining to no avail. We keep on voting, but nothing changes.”
The service delivery crisis stands in stark contrast to the broader economic landscape of the region. The Emthanjeni municipality, which also encompasses the towns of Hanover and Britstown, has seen a steady decline over the last few decades. Unemployment and poverty remain among the most pressing challenges for residents, despite multi-billion rand investments flowing into renewable energy projects in the surrounding area.
Looking ahead, municipal leadership insists that its strategic focus remains on making the region more attractive for future investment, particularly within the renewable energy sector. The municipality hopes that leveraging these green energy projects will stimulate local entrepreneurship, create sustainable jobs for residents, and ultimately broaden the revenue base needed to fix the area’s crumbling infrastructure.
