The municipality that went from the brink of collapse to the best-run in its province
Kouga Local Municipality has turned from a financially distressed municipality plagued by governance failures into one of the leading performers in the Eastern Cape.
The municipality includes popular coastal towns such as Jeffreys Bay and St Francis Bay, as well as Humansdorp, Oyster Bay and Patensie, and was in severe financial and operational difficulty before the 2016 local government elections.
According to the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA), Kouga serves just over 107,000 residents across 42,264 households.
Its recovery has included clearing inherited debt, improving revenue collection, and achieving consecutive clean audit outcomes.
Before 2016, the municipality struggled with depleted cash reserves, mounting debts to creditors, including Eskom, and delays in paying local businesses and service providers.
Weak financial controls and procurement irregularities compounded the problems, and neglected infrastructure resulted in recurring water leaks, electricity disruptions, and deteriorating roads.
At the time, the AGSA repeatedly raised concerns about financial management and accountability.
Its findings included failures to investigate unauthorised, irregular and wasteful expenditure, as well as procurement processes that did not comply with supply chain management regulations.
“Fruitless and wasteful expenditure was incurred due to penalties and interest on late payment of creditors,” the auditor noted in its findings.
The municipality also failed to consistently pay creditors within the legally required 30 days, while spending exceeded approved budget limits in some instances.
However, Kouga has made substantial progress in strengthening its finances and governance over the past decade.
The municipality has cleared legacy debt, improved revenue collection to 94% and moved towards consistently paying local creditors within 30 days, helping restore confidence among suppliers.
It has also achieved unqualified audit opinions with no findings, known as clean audits, according to the latest audit results provided for the municipality.
The improvements were recognised last year when Kouga received the Municipal Service Award at the Ratings Afrika Municipal Performance Awards, which named it as the best-performing municipality in the Eastern Cape.
A focus on service delivery and competence
Executive Mayor Hattingh Bornman said that the municipality’s access centres on delivering reliable and effective services to residents.
“The municipality has consistently demonstrated its ability to implement major infrastructure projects that directly address community needs—from upgrading roads and electricity networks to enhancing access to water, sanitation, and housing,” he said.
One of the major projects is a R200 million road resealing programme intended to upgrade between 100km and 150km of roads across all nine municipal areas.
The municipality is also upgrading rural and township roads by converting gravel surfaces to tar in areas including Jeffreys Bay, Humansdorp and Hankey, using funding from the Municipal Infrastructure Grant.
Bornman attributed the municipality’s clean audit performance to the commitment of its leadership and employees.
He gave a special mention to the municipal manager and chief financial officer, whose oversight has helped enforce financial management standards.
He added that good governance should extend beyond financial reporting to include the quality of services residents receive.
“For Kouga, these include customer care initiatives where staff are trained and focused on the experience of our residents when they deal with the municipality,” he said.
Bornman said the municipality also sought to build a workplace culture that encouraged professionalism and service excellence.
He added that this is supported by policies and bylaws that created opportunities for development and economic growth.
Kouga’s council comprises 30 seats, with the Democratic Alliance holding 16 and the African National Congress 11.
The Economic Freedom Fighters, Patriotic Alliance and Freedom Front Plus each hold one seat.
Photos of Kouga’s popular coastal towns
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