Despite R1.96m Fraud Scandal
CCN Editor – George April
PIKETBERG:- In a remarkable display of financial discipline, Bergrivier Municipality has been awarded its tenth consecutive clean audit by the Auditor-General of South Africa for the 2024/2025 financial year, an achievement matched by only a handful of municipalities nationwide.
The official announcement was made on Sunday, 30 November 2025, and celebrated on Monday by Municipal Manager Adv. Hanlie Linde and Executive Mayor Ray van Rooy.
“This achievement belongs to every employee, councillor and community member who works with heart, honesty and dedication,” said Linde. Mayor Van Rooy added: “This tenth clean audit is proof of unwavering discipline, professionalism and teamwork. We are grateful and extremely proud.”
A clean audit confirms that the municipality’s financial statements are free of material misstatements, internal controls are effective, and there is full compliance with legislation.
The Other Side of the Coin
While the clean audit celebrates strong systems and governance, CCN’s ongoing investigation has highlighted that even top-performing municipalities are not immune to internal fraud.
In the same municipality that just earned national praise, former employee Pieter Jacobus Adams defrauded the council of R1.96 million through fraudulent electricity token sales. To date, only R1.24 million has been recovered (63%), leaving R720 000 of taxpayer money unrecovered – despite Adams’ recent conviction and partial pension confiscation.
This case, exposed by CCN earlier this year, revealed the nationwide “resign-and-escape” loophole that allows guilty employees to resign before disciplinary hearings, severely limiting recovery and accountability.
National Context
According to the Auditor-General’s latest consolidated report:
- Only 34 municipalities (out of 257) achieved clean audits in 2023/2024
- Bergrivier remains one of the Western Cape’s consistent top performers
- Yet irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure across South Africa still exceeds R20 billion rand annually
What the 10th Clean Audit Really Means
Bergrivier’s success proves that strong systems can detect fraud early (the Adams case was flagged internally in 2019). However, the same success story also shows the limits of current laws: even in one of the country’s best-run municipalities, more than R700000 remains lost forever because the perpetrator resigned before full accountability could be enforced.
CCN Verdict
Bergrivier Municipality deserves genuine congratulations for its extraordinary governance record. At the same time, its own fraud case serves as a national warning: without urgent legal reform to close the resignation loophole, even the cleanest municipalities will continue losing millions that were meant for service delivery.
CCN will continue tracking recovery efforts in the Adams case and similar incidents across the Western Cape.
Read the full Bergrivier fraud investigation series here: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 (Adams sentenced – recovery update)
Picture: Adv. Hanlie Linde and Executive Mayor Ray van Rooy.
