ILEMBE’S MID‑YEAR GAINS AND UNQUALIFIED AUDITS SIGNAL A DISTRICT DESTINED FOR SUCCESS
Today, Mayor Cllr Thobani Shandu tabled the 2025/2026 Mid‑Year Budget and Performance Assessment, accompanied by key insights from the 2024/2025 Annual Report. Together, these reports reflect a municipality that is consolidating financial stability, strengthening oversight, and improving delivery across core service areas.
The 2024/2025 Annual Report indicates that the Municipality achieved 76% of its annual targets, with high performance in Good Governance (93%) and Cross‑Cutting Interventions (85%). However, challenges remain in Financial Viability (46%) and Municipal Transformation (56%), driven by policy delays, critical vacancies, ICT backlogs, and limited organisational development progress. Basic Service Delivery achieved 78%, although major water‑related obligations, such as old mains replacement, Inyoni Bulk Water delays, EPWP delivery, and telemetry under‑implementation, signal infrastructure and planning gaps requiring urgent intervention.
Our entity, Enterprise iLembe, achieved 71% performance, improving from 69% the previous year. LED and tourism outcomes were particularly strong: 372 SMMEs, cooperatives and youth trained, multiple agriculture market linkages secured, five tourism exhibitions hosted, and several catalytic projects advanced. Financially, the entity remains stable with R53.1m in revenue, R46.5m in expenditure, a R6.6m surplus, and a strong liquidity position (216 days’ cash). Key challenges include tourism setbacks due to E. coli‑related beach contamination, under‑performance in job creation (8/50), and investment mobilisation (R5m/ R100m target).
The Auditor‑General issued Unqualified Audit Opinions for both the Municipality and Enterprise iLembe, confirming credible, compliant financial reporting and reinforcing institutional accountability.
Mid‑year financial performance for 2025/2026 remains robust:
• Revenue: R980.7m (vs R794.3m budget)
• Expenditure: R553.0m (vs R786.9m projection)
• Interim surplus: R427.7m
• Capital spending: R152.336m
• Cash coverage: 108 days
• Water quality: 95.80%
Key infrastructure milestones include Macambini 5C (100%), Macambini 5D (91%), Ndulinde 4D (86%), Sundumbili Pump Station (70% vs 20%), UMvoti WW Refurbishment (49%), and major progress on sewer mains replacement.
As the Municipality prepares for the February 2026 Adjustment Budget, the focus will be on:
• Accelerating water and sanitation infrastructure
• Strengthening revenue collection and reducing NRW (currently 41%)
• Filling critical vacancies and improving SCM turnaround times
• Reinforcing audit action plans
• Enhancing project monitoring and internal controls
iLembe District Municipality remains committed to transparent governance, sustainable financial management, and reliable service delivery, ensuring a stronger, more resilient future for all communities.
#iLembeDistrictMunicipality#GoodGovernance#FinancialManagement#ServiceDelivery#RoadToCleanAudit#PublicSectorExcellence#InfrastructureDevelopment#LocalEconomicDevelopment#EnterpriseiLembe
