Johannesburg:  Gauteng's Kungwini municipality - one of 46 local authorities under investigation across the country - can't account for what it did with R147-million.  And, in a hard-hitting report, the auditor-general has also revealed that municipal officials in Bronkhorstpruit, northeast of Pretoria, could not say how R90-million came to be spent on "unauthorised" payments.

This as Co-operative Governance Minister Sicelo Shiceka starts interviewing potential recruits to his local government inspectorate - a team he is putting together to bust fraud and corruption in local authorities. The team will work with law-enforcement agencies such as Willie Hofmeyr's Special Investigating Unit and the police's Hawks.

The other Gauteng municipality being investigated, said Shiceka, is the DA-administered Midvaal, south of Johannesburg.  The investigation in Midvaal - touted as providing the best quality of life in the province - relates to corruption and maladministration.

Said Shiceka's advisor, Nhlakanipho Nkontwana: "Two affidavits have already been filed, one by a local businessman and the other by a former DA councillor."

But DA Gauteng leader Janet Semple said: "There have been allegations about Midvaal and we have been told there will be a forensic investigation. We welcome it.  We will co-operate with them in whatever way we can. I'm sure we will come out of it smelling of roses. I doubt they will find anything."

The auditor-general's report on Kungwini follows a forensic investigation by auditing firm KPMG into the municipality's finances. The KPMG report alleged nepotism, corruption, fraud, tender manipulation, irregularly awarded contracts and dodgy hiring.  Former local government MEC Qedani Mahlangu initiated the investigation in 2008.

The KPMG report, completed last year and tabled in the Gauteng Legislature last month, forced the resignation of Kungwini mayor Obed Maila and the suspension of municipal manager Joseph Gomba. The municipality's chief financial officer, Alfred Tshesane, also resigned.

Kungwini municipal officials could not provide the auditor-general with documentary evidence of how the R147-million from the 2008-2009 budget had been spent.  Instead, they justified the expenditure with broad and general terms such as "collection costs, bulk purchases, general expenses and other expenditure".

The auditor-general could not establish what happened to R26.9-million purportedly used for the construction of unspecified municipal properties, or the fate of R4.8-million spent on "contracted services".

"Management could not provide supporting documentation or reasonable explanations for this expenditure," the auditor-general said in his report.

Shiceka said the missing documents indicated that corruption was rife at the municipality.  "We want accountability. If there is no document, there is a lot of corruption," he said.  "Not having documentation is tricks - and it's widespread across local government."

A combination of agencies, including the Hawks, the Special Investigating Unit and fraud busters from Shiceka's department are investigating seven municipalities in Mpumalanga and five in KwaZulu-Natal.  Three municipalities in Eastern Cape, all 25 municipalities in North West, and two in the Free State and two in Western Cape are under investigation.

Kungwini and the nearby Nokeng Tsa Taemane municipality will be incorporated into the cash-strapped City of Tshwane after the local government polls next year.  Shiceka said Kungwini was a far cry from what it used to be.  "That municipality has been very unstable. It was last stable in 1998," he said, adding that it once had a surplus of more than R25-million.

"But now, it's back to square-one. It shouldn't be so because the municipality benefits a lot in taxes . they recently received R135-million from Silver Lakes [golf estate]," Shiceka said.  "We are going to arrest people there."