One of South Africa’s top municipalities made payments to fictitious and dead beneficiaries

South Africa’s Auditor General highlighted a material irregularity where the eThekwini Municipality made payments to fictitious and deceased beneficiaries.

The eThekwini Municipality is the local government for the City of Durban and the surrounding areas. It is the only Category A metropolitan municipality in KwaZulu-Natal home to over 4.2 million people.

The municipality is responsible for providing infrastructure, services, and support to the residents of eThekwini.

It has been well reported that the municipality has been riddled with issues related to corruption, mismanagement, and misconduct. These include allegations against the former mayor, Zandile Gumede.

Gumede and her 21 co-accused are facing numerous charges, including money laundering, racketeering, fraud, corruption, and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the Municipal Systems Act, relating to the R320 million Durban Solid Waste tender.

The problems did not stop after Gumede departed. In July 2025, eThekwini admitted it awarded a R3.6 million tender to a company owned by a former employee.

This raised conflict-of-interest concerns, despite the municipality’s insistence that the process was competitive and lawful.

Allegations of political interference in staffing and procurement are commonplace, and suspensions and investigations happen regularly.

The eThekwini Municipality’s 2024 annual report also raised concerns, where the Auditor General (AG) flagged a material irregularity.

The AG noted that the municipality made payments to individuals under the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) who did not qualify as beneficiaries.

The EPWP is a programme that provides temporary work to unemployed individuals. The programme is aimed at temporarily involving these individuals in public projects. This includes public projects such as road repairs and cleaning services.

The report highlighted that the municipality made payments to individuals who were ineligible for this programme.

They include fictitious beneficiaries, deceased beneficiaries, and beneficiaries employed in other state institutions, which would disqualify them for the EPWP positions.

The report stated that the eThekwini Municipality was ineffective in detecting unqualified beneficiaries.

The report showed that by October 2022, the municipality had lost R3.28 million due to this problem. It further stated that it was likely to lose another R2.34 million because of the issue.

The municipal manager was notified of the irregular payments, and multiple investigations were launched.

The Auditor General stated that the municipal manager failed to implement all of the recommendations made by the investigations.

At the time the eThekwini Municipality published its 2024 annual report, no disciplinary action had been taken against the responsible individuals. 

The eThekwini municipality did not respond to questions from Newsday.