Tshwane awaits CFO misconduct hearing

2026-03-04 - 04:53

Tensions in Tshwane are expected to come to the boil this week after last week’s chaotic council meeting, which saw two political parties walk out. This week, the city was waiting to hear when a special meeting will be held regarding allegations of misconduct facing Tshwane’s chief financial officer (CFO) Gareth Mnisi. Two parties wrote to the council demanding action. Republican Conference of Tshwane councillor Lex Middelberg and ANC greater Tshwane regional secretary George Matjila wrote to the city manager regarding charges of serious misconduct the CFO faces. CFO misconduct allegations The meeting is supposed to take place before tomorrow, as the city was expected to respond by Monday following the letters of demand. On Thursday, the DA’s Tshwane mayoral candidate, Cilliers Brink, walked out of a council sitting after voting against what he described as a budget based on carefully hidden information, half-truths and devious accounting. Brink said the DA rejects this budget adjustment and proudly voted against it. ALSO READ: Pretoria residents face lengthy outages “It allocates no additional funds to water tankers, while internal reports to the budget steering committee state the budget allocation for water tankers has been depleted, and R125 million worth of unauthorised expenditure has already been incurred at the end of December 2025. This was with six months left in the financial year,” he said. Brink said not allocating an additional budget to water tankers, while still continuing to spend on the item, shows a clear intent to hide this spending from the council and public. “This follows R777 million spending on water tankers in the first year of the ANC-led administration, a 455% increase from the DA-led administration that preceded them.” ActionSA says it will not be intimidate by ‘false narratives’ Brink said that though the ANC maintains this adjustment budget is funded, this is false. ActionSA Tshwane’s caucus spokesperson Henriette Frohlich said the party will not be intimidated by false narratives and fake outrage that seeks to downplay progress made by the new administration under ActionSA mayor Nasiphi Moya in fixing the city. Frohlich said she has received official confirmation from National Treasury that the 2025-26 adjustment budget remains funded, with an operating surplus of R1.2 billion. ALSO READ: Pressure mounts on Tshwane CFO over misconduct claims “According to the Municipal Finance Management Act 2003, the adjustment budget forms part of the mid-term review, as contained in the five-year strategic integrated development plan and the city’s recovery plan,” she said. The budget was passed after the DA and Freedom Front Plus walked out. FF+ councillor Grandi Theunissen said Tshwane deserves a budget that’s truly sustainable, safeguards service delivery and responsibly manages taxpayers’ money. Theunissen said the 2025-26 budget has been inadequate from the outset and the latest adjustment budget merely exacerbates the city’s financial strain. 2025-26 budget inadequate – Theunissen “Residents now face higher tariffs while service delivery keeps deteriorating, as the budget conceals a structural deficit and failed projects,” he said. Theunissen said though the unlawful cleansing levy was scrapped, the city was now attempting to fill the gap with artificial upward adjustments to fines, rentals and interest.