The City of Matlosana Local Municipality Media Relations Officer Kelebogile Moleko indicated that the costs associated with attending the awards ceremony have not been established.
This comes after City Report reported that moving with the ongoing financial mismanagement stemming from unfunded budgets, the “City on the Move” is going to fund the Speaker, Cllr. Stella Mondlane-Ngwenya, and another councillor’s overseas trip to Dakar, Senegal, for the Pan-African Local Leadership Excellence Awards in November 2025.
The Pan-African Local Leadership Excellence Awards (PELL) is an award program that recognizes outstanding practices and innovations in territorial governance and decentralization across Africa.
The first Pan-African edition of the awards will conclude in November 2025 in Dakar, Senegal.
For the 2025 edition, 734 applications were received from 28 African countries across six categories:
• Local authorities
• Ministries and technical departments
• Journalists and communicators
• Academics and researchers
• Citizens and transformers
• Children and young creators
Maklera Magazine reported Mondlane-Ngwenya’s trip to Dakar, Senegal is estimated at R250 000, and another R250 000 for a councillor who will be going along with her to the West African State.
The City of Matlosana Local Municipality is currently struggling with maintaining its infrastructure and providing quality basic services like water and electricity. The municipality has adopted unfunded budgets for several years, with the deficit for the 2025/2026 financial year projected to be R3.8 billion.
This practice has significantly worsened the municipality’s financial crisis and compromised its ability to deliver basic services.
Rejecting this decision, the Democratic Alliance Cllr. Inge Wilken categorised the attempt to fund Mondlane-Ngwenya’s trip as reckless.
“While the DA acknowledges the Speaker’s nomination, we will not support the diversion of public funds for international travel at a time when Matlosana is in deep financial distress. The municipality is struggling to pay creditors, settle mounting debt, and restore even the most basic services to residents.
“The Excellence Awards, organised by IOPD Africa in partnership with the African Union Commission, aim to recognise innovation in local governance. The Speaker has been shortlisted in the category of Inclusion, Equality, and Equity. However, prestige cannot take priority over service delivery,” said Wilken.
The DA in Matlosana emphasised that recognition of good practice must be earned through tangible improvements in residents’ daily lives, not celebrated with taxpayer-funded trips abroad.
“If the Speaker wishes to attend, it must be at her own expense or through external sponsorship and not through public funds.”
Despite years of failed financial recovery plans and billions in losses, no one has been held accountable.
Moleko confirmed that the municipal council has approved that if the Mondlane-Ngwenya makes it to the top three, she will be supported to receive the award.
“At this stage, only the top five nominees have been announced, and the top three have not been finalized. Therefore, the costs associated with attending the awards ceremony have not been established,” said Moleko.
