Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality MPAC office learning experience

In an effort to capacitate and empower the Municipal Public Accounts Committee to enhance its impact on promoting good governance, transparency, and accountability within municipalities, the Nelson Mandela Bay MPAC last week visited the City of Cape Town in an exercise to learn, share best practices, and capacitate both councillors and officials supporting the committee.

The MPAC office is a Committee of Council which functions similarly to the national Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA). The purpose of the MPAC is to serve as an oversight body, holding the municipal executive and administration accountable for the use of public funds and ensuring financial and performance management is in line with the Municipal Finance Management Act and other relevant legislation.

Last week on Thursday, 07 August 2025, the MPAC Chairperson, Councillor Luxolo Namette, led a delegation of five councillors and four officials.

The visit to the City of Cape Town MPAC office focused on the following areas:

1. Strategies on how to stop Unauthorised, Irregular, Fruitless, and Wasteful (UIFW) expenditure

2. How to hold both officials and councillors accountable for UIFW within the current legal framework

3. Strategies on how MPAC can improve its planning and implementation of its mandated oversight role

4. How to analyse and track municipal spending versus the budget and plans in place

The delegation met with the City of Cape Town MPAC office and officials in a full-day working session. Nelson Mandela Bay MPAC Chairperson, Councillor Namette, said he was pleased and encouraged with what they learnt and shared with their colleagues from Cape Town.

"We must admit that the CCT is one of the leading municipalities in implementing oversight on spending. The AG reports have confirmed this for the past few years. For us to improve, we need to learn from our counterparts for the benefit of our people," said Cllr Namette.