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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Polokwane is deeply concerned by the poor management as well as the lack of consequence management and accountability within the Polokwane Housing Association (PHA).

The PHA is an entity owned by the Polokwane Municipality and committed to developing and managing social housing and well-situated rental stock for people across a range of income groups. The Association is responsible for the Ga-Rena Rental Village.

The Auditor-General’s (AG) 2019/20 annual report seems to highlight that the association has constantly flouted Supply Chain Management (SCM) regulations. It extended or modified contracts without the approval of properly delegated officials in contravention of SCM regulations.

The PHA was also found to have procured goods and services under a transactional value of R200 000 without obtaining required quotations in contravention of SCM regulations. Some quotations were accepted from bidders who did not declare whether they were employed by the state or connected to any person employed by the state in violation of another SCM regulation.

This municipal entity contravened municipal budget and reporting regulations by incurring irregular expenditure as well as fruitless and wasteful expenditure without carrying out any investigation to determine if any person was responsible.

These transgressions were worsened by the fact that there was no consequence management carried out in all the above-mentioned issues. It is clear there has been a total disregard for accountability, transparency and sound governance.

The association also failed to pay the money it owed within 30 days. This was largely due to low rental collection from Ga-Rena Rental Village. This indicates a poor revenue collection system and poor financial controls.

The DA believes the PHA plays a very important role in society and should be well run in a sustainable, efficient and transparent manner. These issues need to be addressed before the second phase of Ga-Rena Village is operational. In the next council sitting, we will push for the adoption of a consequence management policy.

Issued by DA