The Eastern Cape Premier Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane led a media briefing on 14 July 2026, held at East London Industrial Development Zone (EL IDZ) in KuGompo City to outline the outcomes of a closed Provincial Local Government Accountability Day session.
The briefing focused primarily on coordinated action plans to assist municipalities affected by the National Treasury’s temporary withholding of their July 2026 Local Government Equitable Share (LGES) allocations. However, the session aimed to strengthen financial governance, improve accountability and ensure compliance with the requirements for the release of the withheld funds.
The session brought together provincial leadership with the political and administrative heads of six municipalities hit by National Treasury’s temporary withholding of their July 2026 LGES allocations.
The six affected councils are Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Makana Local Municipality, Sundays River Valley Local Municipality, Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality and Port St Johns Local Municipality.
The main purpose was rather to find a united plan to help these municipalities meet National Treasury’s requirements. This is to ensure the frozen funds can be released and basic services can continue. The requirements come from Section 216(2) of the Constitution.
During the session, provincial leadership looked at the governance and compliance problems in each municipality. They agreed on immediate solutions and turnaround plans. They also agreed to improve accountability.
Further more, six affected municipalities committed to submitting all outstanding requirements requested by the National Treasury.
In addition, MEC for Finance in the Eastern Cape Mlungisi Mvoko noted that assessments of all municipalities had been done and found that municipalities fail because of poor planning, service delivery challenges and supply chain management problems.
Mvoko therefore attributed the failures to municipal councils, rather than on a lack of funding. “There is no vote of no confidence from the side of treasury,” he added.
Furthermore, the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) in the Eastern Cape, Zolile Williams added that, “Their submission was clear that there’s commitment to ensure that everything that was required by National Treasury is accordingly submitted so that we can address those challenges.”
The premier glowed with pride as he held up the Amathole District Municipality as living proof that determined intervention can drag a struggling council back from the brink. “One of the shining examples of how a Section 139 intervention can be implemented with success is the Amathole District Municipality,” he said.
However, the National Treasury is currently reassessing submissions from Buffalo City Metro and Port St Johns and early signs suggest both have met the required standards. Yet Mabuyane announced that the Office of the Premier will now convene quarterly Local Government Accountability Sessions to keep the pressure on and to prevent similar problems from occurring in other municipalities.
Okuhle Nqana
15 July 2026
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