North West municipalities received R2.19 billion to fix roads, but they spent the money on DStv, funeral policies, and paying outstanding accounts

R2.19 billion was allocated to municipalities in the North West province to repair their deteriorating infrastructure and poor road conditions, yet there has been no progress. 

The province consists of 4 district municipalities and 18 local municipalities, all of which are ANC-led. 

The province is resource-rich and a major centre for mining, agriculture, tourism, and education. 

Multiple municipalities in the province face infrastructure collapse, financial mismanagement, and corruption. 

Some of these municipalities include Mamusa Local Municipality, Maquassi Hills Local Municipality, and Kgetleng Rivier Local Municipality. 

The Mamusa Local Municipality is in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality.

The settlements under its jurisdiction include Schweizer-Reneke, its administrative seat, and the townships of Ipelegeng, Amalia, Migdol, Glaudina, and Molatswanene. 

One of the major infrastructure issues in the province is inadequate maintenance and failures in road development. 

The Auditor-General’s report on the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) budget, which allocated R2.19 billion to municipalities, raised concerns about improper use of funds. 

The improper use of these funds was reported for operating costs, such as salaries and Eskom accounts, particularly in the Mamusa Local Municipality.

In 2024, Michael Beaumont, the national chairperson of ActionSA, travelled across the country to identify the worst roads, starting in the North West. 

“The province has nearly 20,000 km of road network, and yet less than 6000km is tarred,” Beaumont said. 

He found that “the degradation of the road surface has gone down to the level of the base layer, which will now require total road reconstruction.” 

He explained that the poor condition of the road network is due to several factors, including heavy traffic from the province’s mines and farms. 

However, he highlighted that it is mainly due to insufficient road maintenance and municipal mismanagement. 

Road infrastructure collapse in the Mamusa Local Municipality 

In the 2025/2026 financial year, the Mamusa Local Municipality received a budget of R18 million. However, its infrastructure showed no improvement. 

The DA North West provincial leader, Freddy Sonakile, and Mamusa Constituency Head, Sello Seitlholo, questioned the Municipality’s expenditure during a ward visit on 28 October 2026. 

Concerns were raised regarding “DStv subscriptions and funeral policies being debited from the municipal accounts,” the party said. 

The residents said that weak leadership is to blame for the poor road conditions. They told SAfm that many of the roads are inaccessible and dangerous to use. 

In townships, head-on collisions frequently occur because motorists must share a lane to avoid potholes. 

The Municipality also failed to complete existing projects, including a poorly constructed road in Glaudina and Ipelegeng townships. 

The paving was poorly constructed, with bricks laid incorrectly on the roads and the roads built too narrow.  

This created a serious accident zone, where two accidents have already been recorded. 

The Municipality admitted that it is struggling with infrastructure maintenance and attributed the issue to insufficient funding allocations. 

On 1 November 2026, the former Minister of Transport and current secretary-general of the ANC, Fikile Mbalula, said that potholes are due to climate change. 

Mbalula told Ekurhuleni News Channel, “Potholes will be there as long as we live in this environment, and the rain washes the streets out.” 

He argued that municipal capacity and road maintenance are important issues, but maintained that the heavy rains severely damage the road surface.